Maverick
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: AU: Upon the discovery of X, a very human-like and advanced robot, 21XX ushers in the era of Reploids. But stigmas soon exist on these new creations, jealousy can burn and eat away circuits, argumental and sexual tensions rise on both factions- the world has been forever changed. But at what cost? [Lite!Lime in Chpt 20, rape discussed Chpt 22 onwards]
1. Hikari's Last Fight

_Reploid (noun) _

_1. A robotic creation that mimics the appearance and brain function of an average human. _

_2. A robotic creation that has the ability to think, feel, reason, and make decisions in the same manner as humans. In certain cases, there may not be a clear, definitive difference between the two._

_. . ._

Thomas Hikari sealed the capsule with a smile. His new creation was a marvel, his magnum opus that many would gather to see one day. But the old robotist was dying- after suffering a heart attack five years ago, Hikari was now going through a rather vicious case of congestive heart failure. The old man patted the capsule with sorrow. He would not get to live to see his creation walk the earth, with a losing war raging above him, Hikari was sure that the capsule would make it for another thirty years no matter what happened out there.

"What is that Thomas?" a voice said from behind him. Hikari turned around in surprise, under the impression that he had been alone.

"Roll." the old man said bitterly before giving a rather nasty cough. "What do you want?"

The woman in her late thirties casually walked over to the capsule. Her brilliant blue eyes stared at Hikari every step of the way.

"Get away from him." Hikari hissed to the woman. "You can't do anything with him now!"

This did not stop the woman from looking down on the capsule. She wiped her hand over a small window and nearly jumped back in shock.

"What the fuck is that thing?!" she shouted at Hikari, advancing toward him like an angry mother bear.

"An innovation!" Hikari declared. "X is the first of a new generation of robots that have the ability to think, feel, and make decisions for themselves- just like us!"

"Like you." the woman corrected, lifting her left arm to show the old robotist an intricate set of circuits and wires that were coming out of her skin like an open fracture. "Remember our history together dear doctor? Or did you happen to forget after Mega and Proto died at the hands of a monster?"

"Why do you think I built X?" Hikari told her, coughing violently into his sleeve. "If only he wasn't as powerful..."

"What do you mean?" the woman asked, her eyes started to grow wide. Hikari snickered at what he took as ignorance.

"If X breaks the First Law, nothing on earth will stop him." Hikari told the woman in a low tone. "I know what you are thinking, but this is why I have sealed him away, my love. Thirty years, darling, is all he needs to safely confirm his reliability to protect humans. By then however..."

"Do you honestly think you know that you'll die within thirty years? You barely know what year it is."

Hikari did not directly answer her, instead he coughed in a way the demonstrated how poor his health was. The woman did nothing but stare at him, completely unfazed by his potential to simply pass out in front of her without the intention of ever waking up again.

"What are you still doing here?" Hikari then asked, finding her blue eyes too fascinating to look away from. Something in those eyes suggested something much deeper- wounds that would never heal, perhaps, or the idea that she may never see any of her friends again in her own passing due to their true natures...

"I can not let you unleash a creation that powerful into the world." the woman said.

"It's too late." Hikari told her with a crooked smile.

"Everyone underestimates my understanding of robotics." the woman told him, looking a little surprised and equally amused. "Why does everyone doubt it?"

Hikari opened his mouth to say something, but he collapsed to the ground instead. In a reaction she could not control, the woman rushed to his side.

"You can do nothing Roll." Hikari whispered as his breathing started to slow.

"My name is not Roll, Dr Hikari." the woman told him bending closer to him so she was the only thing he could see- and the last thing. "It is, was, and always will be Nico Vega Roru; and I _always _find a way to break your programming. Always."

Hikari's eyes were linked to the woman's until his life force completely left his body. The woman sat there a bit longer, making sure that he was dead- then she went to do as she had promised.


	2. Dr Cain & Toshi

_April 9, 21XX_

_Set up a new site near an abandoned home. Time has done its number on this poor house- but I received some odd readings on radar that suggest something rather large and metallic inside. I do not normally investigate abandoned houses, but something about this one intrigues me to the highest degree. Toshi and I will investigate further in the morning._

"Dinner is ready Mr Yoshiya Cain." the voice of an eager, young worker said gently as he placed his hand on his mentor. The fifty-something archeologist jumped a little in surprise from the touch, but he turned around to give his assistant a smile.

"Please Toshi, we have been through this many times- call me Dr Cain."

The college aged assistant flushed a deep red color under his dark rimmed glasses.

"Sorry Mr Yoshiya Cain. Oh no! I didn't mean... I, uh, I-I mean Dr Cain!"

Dr Cain gave his assistant a hearty laugh as he put his journal away.

The next morning, the two got up fairly early and began looking over the old home.

"We're not honestly going inside, are we?" Toshi asked, looking at his mentor with a sense of anxiety.

"My boy," Dr Cain said, giving his assistant a pat of the back, "When you are as old as I am, you will appreciate times when you sense something great at your fingertips. But it is whether you follow through with your curiosity that determines your path in life- if you never trust your instincts then you may die unhappy and regretful, or you can take a risk and learn something you never thought possible. I, for one, would rather go with the latter- it seems much more fun and unpredictable."

With that being said, Dr Cain and Toshi went to the front door of the old home and carefully pried the door open after finding that it was unlocked.

"It looks like someone burst in here without the owners consent." Toshi noted as they got the door to open enough so they could squeeze through. "Spare for ourselves, of course."

Dr Cain gave a small chuckle then turned to look down at his radar. It was beeping to indicate a large metallic mass somewhere nearby- but the question was from where.

"Where do we go now?" Toshi asked Dr Cain as the old man checked to radar.

"Up." the archeologist said, slowly navigating through the house to a spiral staircase.

"I hate spiral staircases." Toshi mumbled softly. Dr Cain did not hear him, and led the way up the rickety metal staircase that made the old archeologist fear for both of their safeties.

"This place is in so much disrepair..." Toshi said as they went down the hallway, "Age couldn't have done this alone- could it?"

"It could have, we are on the outskirts of Abel City- nature has taken back much of its land over the last fifty years." Dr Cain said before stepping on a picture frame that had fallen off the wall. Curious, Dr Cain bent down to pick it up. The frame had several years of dust caked onto it, but the archeologist was able to wipe a good amount of it away to view the picture that lay under the glass. The picture detailed two men, one was older with a thick beard dressed in a scientific lab coat and the other was younger dressed in an type of robotic armor. The face of the younger man in the robotic armor was ripped out from the photograph. "But then again..."

Dr Cain would have reflected more on the photograph, but the radar started to beep louder now- indicating that they were closer to their target.

"Where does it want us to go?" Toshi asked curiously as Dr Cain got the radar out to look at it.

"In there." Dr Cain said, pointing to a door that was only a few feet away from them. Carefully, the two made it to the door that Dr Cain had indicated then worked to get the door open.

"You know..." Toshi started to say as they leaned on the door to make it budge. "How come the... floors haven't, like... fallen on us... yet?"

"Perhaps," Dr Cain said with a grunt, "There is a fine steel laying under the, urg, floorboards. If my hunch is... correct, then whatever... whatever is behind that door is why this whole... place... stays... up."

With one last, very hard, budge- the door opened to allow Dr Cain and Toshi entrance into the new area. They didn't need to look far to see why the radar was going crazy- the answer was right there in front of them.

"What... is that thing, Dr Cain?" Toshi asked, sounding a bit scared as he slowly pulled out his flashlight. The old archeologist did not answer, instead he went forward toward the large metal capsule in the center of the room. Like the picture frame from earlier, there was a good layer of dust caked onto the capsule that hide the true beauty of what it should have looked like. Carefully, Dr Cain placed his hand onto the capsule- it was cold to the touch, but it made Dr Cain even more fascinated. Suddenly, a monitor beside the capsule flashed to life- giving off a red screen that had the word 'WARNING' glaring from it.

"Mr... Mr Cain...?" Toshi said fearfully as other monitors started to flash on around them. To the assistant's fear- Dr Cain was no longer listening to him.


	3. True Reploids

_I am X. I am a highly advanced robot with the ability to think and reason like a human. There are no others like me in the world, Dr Cain told me, so I must be rather lonely. I do not think he fully realizes that I do not feel alone; having him and talking to him is all the company I feel I need. I fear that Dr Cain thinks he knows what he is doing (and I know that he means well) but it gives me a rather uneasy feeling to think that there may be others like me- or being built to be like me._

_Sigma was the first true Reploid- other than myself of course. Dr Cain used me as a makeshift blueprint for a new line of... things that he had dubbed 'Reploids.' The word 'Reploid' coming from compounding the words 'replica' and 'android' together- and odd choice since we mimic the average human in cognitive and certain physical endeavors. I still do not think that this was a properly thought out plan, but how could I tell my thoughts to Dr Cain without upsetting him? I... I hope that this will all turn out as well as Dr Cain hopes it will... _

_If not... then... then I don't want to think about it..._

_At all._

_. . ._

"Five months." Dr Cain said to himself as he scribbled a note into his notebook.

"Five months for what, Dr Cain?" X asked curiously. Dr Cain looked up at X and beamed.

"It's been five months since I've found you- that's what started everything, you see." Dr Cain said. "Four months ago I started to 'reverse engineer' your inner workings so that we were able to build a new set of robotic creations called Reploids- the actual process began three months ago. Two months ago, with the help of the new Reploids, we started to work on Sigma who contains more in his code than the others. Today Sigma is finally completed and it has only been five months since I've met you!"

"Is this a... good thing?" X asked, feeling slightly confused.

"Considering I had no idea what I was doing: yes, it is!"

X gave Dr Cain a look of confusion and worry. Dr Cain picked up on this quickly and then explained more to X;

"I knew what I was doing, in some extent, but I am no master of robotics- Toshi was more skilled than I was, but after we built the first set of Reploids he decided that his destiny lies elsewhere than as my assistant. Not that I blame him -the first Reploids we made reached the uncanny valley rather quickly- even after we started to base the newer Reploids on animals, Toshi decided to leave."

"Do you miss him?" X asked.

"Of course I do." Dr Cain said, thinking back on his assistant with a measure of regret. "Toshi has been my assistant for quite some time, it is hard to see him go so quickly- but it could not have been avoided very much."

"Why?" X asked curiously.

"C'est la vie." Dr Cain simply said. "It's only life, things like this happen X- there isn't much we can do about it."

"And... do other humans take this change well as you do...?"

"No." Dr Cain admitted. "But I've been called senile for some time now -even before I was this wonderful age- so my views and feelings about the world are often very different from someone else's. Yours too X, but you won't go crazy like us humans do."

"But..."

"No more!" Dr Cain said flamboyantly as he cut X off. "X, if you would, please do the honors to activate Sigma for the first time."

X opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it again. X gave Dr Cain a small nod to show that he would activate Sigma, then walked over to the control panel. X entered in a certain pin that led to the activation sequence and stepped back as Sigma slowly started to wake. Dr Cain walked over to Sigma with pride as the Reploid seemed to look as if he were waking up from sleep.

"Good morning Sigma." Dr Cain said, putting his hand on Sigma's shoulder. "I am Dr Yoshiya Cain, and I helped create you."

Sigma turned to look at the old man- his eyes were blank and cold.

"Hello sir." Sigma said curtly. Dr Cain smiled happily as he gave Sigma a pat on the back.

"I have named you Sigma because you are the eighteenth unique Reploid created in this new era," Dr Cain said, "X was the first- and everything about you is due to him more than it is to me."

Sigma then turned to look at X. Something about Sigma made X shudder- what did Dr Cain say about that 'uncanny valley' again...?

"Hello X." Sigma said again in the same manner he used for Dr Cain.

"Hi..." X said back, still feeling a bit uneasy.

"Now Sigma," Dr Cain said again, "I know you have only just been activated, but I have a job for you. Sigma, if you could, I would like it if you could watch over and lead nine other and unique Reploids stationed in different areas around the globe. This is a very important job Sigma- but I believe it is one you were properly built for. Would you like to try it?"

Sigma looked at Dr Cain in a way that made X fear for the old man. With a smirk, Sigma responded;

"I would be honored to hold such a position sir."


	4. Rouge Rogue

_Maverick (noun)_

_1. Any robotic creation that goes against basic programming orders and/or the Laws of Robotics._

_2. Any Reploid that is deliberately/ reprogrammed/ capable of going against any given programming or orders given by its superior to harm humans in any manner._

_. . ._

"Dr Cain wanted this area cleaned out yesterday!" Sigma shouted at the Reploids under his command for an excavation plan. "Why are you idiots slacking?"

No one answered him, but he didn't want an answer; he wanted results.

For the past year, Dr Cain had wanted Sigma and a small crew of Reploids to investigate a certain area within the city. The area in question had received numerous reports of a strange beacon that seemed to hum for a few moments (some reports said hours) then go out. Sigma, being a Reploid designed to solve and predict many situations, noticed that there was a correlation between the day Dr Cain had found X and when the first reports of this beacon came about.

There are no coincidences in Sigma's book, only perfectly drawn conclusions.

"Sigma!" one of the Reploids shouted, "We found something!"

"Finally." Sigma hissed under his breath. "I hope it's something more sustainable than a cat skeleton again."

Sigma followed the Reploid that had alerted him down into the wreckage. The excavation site was once an area of interest to the government- but according to other official documentation, it was once owned by a certain Albert Wiley. Sigma did not know much about this 'Albert Wiley' character, but there was a good percentage that this 'Albert Wiley' was part of the government. Or, for the most part, he needed to be watched by the government...

"Well, what did you find?" Sigma asked after the Reploid led him to something covered underneath a tarpaulin. Quickly, but still a bit hesitant, the Reploid removed the tarpaulin to reveal a coffin-shaped capsule. Sigma remained unfazed.

"What are you waiting for?" Sigma asked the Reploids around him, "Open it up!"

"Yes sir." several Reploids responded as they quickly began to work on getting the capsule opened. It took a few minutes, but the Reploids were able to figure out a way to get the capsule opened to reveal the stranger inside. Sigma then walked over to the capsule with little interest to see what lay inside.

"Just another Reploid." Sigma told his men with a wave of his hand. "God knows how long he's been there- he may not even activate. A simple pile of useless junk. Let's collect what other data we can and get out."

"Yes sir." the Reploids in operation saluted.

"No..." a voice from inside the capsule said, sounding as if the speaker was just waking up from a deep sleep.

Sigma turned back to face the capsule with very little interest. Slowly rising, like a horror film vampire rising from the coffin, the Reploid that had laid in the capsule sat up. The Reploid was colored in red, sporting rather long blonde hair that was tied up in a low ponytail. Sigma smirked at the introduction of this new character.

"Who are you, Reploid?" Sigma asked the red humanoid robot.

"I... destroy... Hikari's... robots..." the red Reploid said in a low tone, still sounding as if it were coming out of a deep sleep.

"Who are you?" Sigma asked again, this time sounding a bit more demanding.

"I need to... protect... the humans..."

Carefully, the red Reploid got up out of the capsule and stood in front of his century old hiding place. Without so much looking at the Reploids around him, the red Reploid raised his right arm and made it change into a Mega Buster. The red Reploid started to fire at the Reploids present without any warning- standing where he was as if he were in a daze.

"He's Maverick!" a Reploid shouted just before he got hit by a blast from the red Reploid.

"Good." Sigma smirked with confidence as he pulled out his plasma sword. "Just the way I like them."

The red Reploid snapped his head to look at Sigma.

"You are not... a human..." the Reploid observed. "Die!"

The red Reploid charged his Mega Buster to full power and aimed directly at Sigma's head. Without letting his opponent respond or have the opportunity to fight back, the red Reploid fired his shot... and it missed Sigma by three degrees to the right. The red Reploid looked at Sigma in shock, as if it were Sigma himself that changed the direction of the blast, but the real truth dawned upon the red Reploid with full force. Sigma looked at the red Reploid with a rather malicious smile.

"My turn now."


	5. More

Sigma dropped the red Reploid with a large amount of force in front of Dr Cain and X. The old man and the blue Reploid stared at the red Reploid before looking at Sigma. Sigma himself seemed to be worse for wear but seemed to be functioning well enough.

"What happened to you?" X asked before Dr Cain could.

"That," Sigma started, pointing to the red Reploid, "Was found where the reports have suspected. He is a Maverick, and he has destroyed half of the men that joined me this morning."

"Are you alright Sigma?" Dr Cain asked as X stared at the new Reploid with great interest.

"It will take more than a rusted Maverick to destroy me, Dr Cain."

"That's good to hear." Dr Cain said with a smile before turning to X. The archeologist looked at X with a quizzical look that made Sigma mildly angry.

"What are you thinking about X?" Dr Cain asked the blue Reploid.

"Something about..." X started to say but trailed off. Dr Cain's face slowly formed into a smile, and it slowly irritated Sigma even more.

"What do you think we should do with him X?" Dr Cain asked curiously.

"Sir!" Sigma instantly shot, "If it is any consideration, I think I should-"

"I would like to hear what X has to say." Dr Cain told Sigma calmly.

"Yes... sir." Sigma then said, feeling a mixture of emotions that he quickly shoved aside.

"What do you think X?" Dr Cain asked again.

"I think..." X started to say, then hesitated. "Can... can we turn him on?"

"I don't see why not." Dr Cain agreed. "Sigma, can you please reactivate our guest?"

"But...!"

"Please Sigma, reactivate the Maverick."

With a grumble, Sigma did as he was told and the red Reploid on the ground started to slowly wake again. The red Reploid let out a groan as he reached for his head as if he were having a horrible headache. Without so much as blinking, Sigma pulled out his plasma sword and pointed it toward the red Reploid aimed at his temple. X took this as a cue to safely move forward to get a better look at this 'Maverick.'

X bent down to the red Reploid's eye level. The red Reploid looked at the blue one and smirked.

"Do you know who I am?" X asked, staring the red Reploid down. The red Reploid let out a satisfied little grunt.

"Hikari built you. Or... maybe just the main part of you."

"Do you know who I am?" X asked again.

"I already told you what I know; you are a robot built by Hikari."

X looked at the red Reploid directly in the eye. There was more to that story; he was almost sure of it.

"Who are you?" X then asked, although he really wanted to demand what else the red Reploid knew about him.

"Zero."

X nodded to Zero before turning to Dr Cain.

"I think we can trust him." X told the old archeologist. "We share a common past- he knows more than what he lets on."

"Are you sure?" Dr Cain asked, sounding more surprised than how angry Sigma had become. X nodded in confirmation.

"Then, I suppose..." Dr Cain started to say cautiously, "You can show your new comrade around Abel City."

"Thank you Dr Cain." X thanked graciously. The blue Reploid then helped Zero stand up and led him out the door. When X shut the door behind them, Sigma gave Dr Cain a looked that could have killed him if Sigma was granted lasers for eyes. In turn, the old man gave Sigma a rather innocent look and started to walk away- leaving Sigma to rumble with anger.

. . .

_Meanwhile, in one of Abel City's more prestigious homes..._

"Stand up against the wall, as straight as you can Alia." Gate instructed to the little Reploid as he tried to hold her against the wall to measure her.

"Why?" Alia asked, squirming at every chance she got- much to Gate's chagrin.

"An experiment." Gate mumbled.

"What kind of experiment Geit?" Alia inquired, tilting her head curiously and unintentionally bending Gate's last nerve. Mispronouncing his name was one thing, asking an endless stream of questions that never ended was another thing. Gate looked Alia in the eyes, her stunning blue colored irises looked at him with genuine curiosity.

"If it works, I'll tell you more about it." Gate promised. "How about that?"

Alia nodded and stood straight allowing just enough time before squirming again so Gate could mark on the wall how tall she stood. When he was done, Alia turned around and smiled a bit at the new mark on the wall.

"How come I can't draw on the wall, but you can?" Alia asked.

"I'm doing an experiment." Gate told her. "And the rules have not changed, do you understand me?"

"Okay." the little Reploid agreed in a tone that gave Gate an understanding that she was going to do it any way. It didn't matter to him right now whether she was plotting to test her boundaries under his care, something much more interesting was brought to his attention about her.

Even if his suspicions were right, what was he going to do with her?


	6. The Smallest Reploid

_December 21, 21XX: Eight months after X's discovery- four months before Zero's discovery_

_. . ._

Snow had made itself known on the ground about an hour ago on the excavation site. For the Reploids in charge of the expedition, the cold weather was not a problem for their inorganic bodies. Sigma and Dr Cain had placed Gate in charge of the excavation today, and it was going along well. So far the team had recovered many of Thomas Hikari's old schematics and discs, but Gate believed that they had yet to reach the tip of the iceburg. The team had gotten through what had remained of the two level home, but they had yet to get into the basement.

"Careful," Gate warned the crew, "We all know how unstable this house is now- be gentle."

The team had found two ways into the basement- there was a door on the first floor that led down, and there was a pair of doors facing down on the ground outside that had a lock on it. Gate had split the crew into two so that either could get into the basement one way or another. It was tricky business making sure that whatever method used to get into the basement was dealt with gently and with less risk of the whole house collapsing under them. Gate paced between the two teams and helped them if they needed it, but without him they were doing rather well.

The team working on the outside doors were successful in getting them open first.

"Good work." Gate approved when he saw the carefully opened doors. The door revealed a pair of stairs that descended into the ground, and the wayward snowflakes in the air rested on a few of the topmost stair steps. Gate gave a signal to a few of the Reploids in charge of scouting the new area and let them go in first, then Gate waited a few minutes for them to come back. The snow was blowing a bit harder now, knocking old snow from the few dead trees surrounding them, but it did not effect Gate one bit. Patiently, he waited for the scout crew to come back with their news.

"There's... there's a status pod down there." one of the crew members said as they came back up the old stairs.

"What kind of status pod?" Gate asked.

"It looks to be the same kind that they found Zero in... except..."

"Except, what?"

"It appears to be that a young child is in the status pod. We can't make out whether it is indeed a human child or a robotic contraption mimicking the appearance of a child."

Gate looked at the scout with a sense of disbelief.

"You're telling me that you think a human child is inside a status pod that has been trapped in a decaying home for over a century?" Gate asked the scout, letting his tone veer toward anger and even more disbelief.

"We will send teams to get the child out, sir." the scout then told Gate.

"Quickly." Gate affirmed. "And you will lead me to this child as well."

"Yes sir."

In a few moments, half of the crew was ready to enter the basement. Gate looked over all that where going to enter with him and nodded in approval to a scout. The team then started to descend into the dark and musty basement. Gate patiently walked behind the scouts as they led him through the basement forgotten by time and in much more disarray than the rest of the house seemed to be. It didn't take long for them to reach the status pod that contained the child. The scouts got out of the way so Gate could carefully peer into the pod- mold was slowly lining every crack and water was dripping for the pod, although the source could not be instantly found.

Sure enough, Gate could see the tiny figure of a human child inside the status pod.

"Can we open it?" Gate asked.

"Of course sir." a scout agreed, ushering Gate forward to be the one to open it. Gate got closer to the pod and investigated it for a moment before he pressed a release hatch. Slowly, the opening of the pod hissed as air from the past was being released into the now present era. The lid of the pod slide away to reveal that a female human child was very much inside the status pod after all, and not only that, but appeared to be breathing. Gate stared as the child began stir and slowly started to open her eyes.

"Unbelievable." he hissed under his breath.

A Reploid present that was programed for medical aid stepped forward and inspected the girl.

"Little girl, can you tell me your name?" the medical Reploid asked as he flashed a small flashlight in her eyes. The child looked up at the Reploid curiously.

"Alia..." the girl said slowly, sounding both confused and curious of her surroundings. The medical Reploid turned to Gate.

"She is an inorganic life form." the medical Reploid informed Gate.

"So she's a Reploid as well?" Gate asked. The medical Reploid nodded.

"Definitely the most smallest we've seen by far." the Reploid told Gate. "Personally, I didn't quite think it was possible. Human brains are complicated to replicate -it took humans how many years to perfect us?- but the brain of a child is far more complicated than one of an adult. It's more curious, it's always learning, it never stops growing in potential."

"Then what do you recommend doing with her?" Gate asked. The medical Reploid gave Gate a bit of a smirk.

"I recommend doing the same thing I'd recommend if she were human."

"And what would that be?"

"Adopt her."

Gate stared at the medical Reploid with a blink.

"Pardon?"

"You heard me." the Reploid told Gate in a more cynical and amused tone. "My suggestion to you is to adopt the little Reploid like you would have if she was human. It is the best idea for a brain capacity comparable to a human child's- she needs a home."

"And what makes you think I'm the one, out of all of us, that takes her in?"

"You were in charge of this expedition, you are in charge of whatever we find. Including, but not limited to, a young Reploid that has the same cognitive understanding of a human preschooler."

Gate looked at the medical Reploid with pure shock. Meanwhile, the little Reploid in the status pod looked at them curiously as she bit away at her thumb nail.


	7. Just Another Tuesday

_Present time..._

"So, what are the odds of you letting me go any time soon?" Zero asked as he and X walked down the streets of Abel City. Under Sigma's orders Zero was to have handcuffs on and chained to X like a puppy in training.

"I did ask Sigma about it," X started to say, "But he told me that if I let you go, then he would personally saw my head off and toss it into the furnace where all the Reploids scream at you."

"Nice guy." Zero mumbled.

"It's not his fault, really!" X stated defensively. "Dr Cain programmed him to be a leader- Sigma also has a free will just like any other Reploid- between the two what we see is the Sigma we, as a whole, have created."

"But would you _trust_ the guy?" Zero spat. X didn't respond, and chose to ignore the question. Zero noticed a look of conflict on X and knew that he had his answer regardless, so the two went into a silence. The two walked on for some time before there was a large bang and crash not far from where they stood. Startled, the two looked up as a large chunk of a skyscraper came off the top of the building and hurtled toward the ground. Higher above the building there was a small figure that darted through the sky as it let out a rather evil cackle- not that far away, a helicopter was trailing the figure as it darted from the rooftops and destroying everything in its wake.

"Reploid Model Number Twenty-one, stand down!" a voice said from the helicopter over an intercom. The figure cackled some more as it used a bomb connected to its ankle to make the top of another skyscraper blow up- the debris from this building nearly fell on top of X and Zero, who dodged out of the way just in time.

Zero flashed X a look of hatred and confusion.

"What in the name of God was that?!" Zero demanded.

"Probably Vile," X said as if they were discussing the weather. "He goes Maverick at least once a week."

"Does he always cause that much damage?" Zero asked, starting to think that X was a little insane.

"Just about." X agreed.

Zero gave X a look of bewilderment mixed in with well placed anger.

"Are humans even safe here? Better yet, do human even live here?!" Zero shouted with spite. X gave Zero a rather blank stare and nodded as he pointed a finger up to the sky. Grudgingly, Zero looked up and saw that the skyscrapers that Vile had busted down earlier looked as if they had never been touched by a rogue Reploid. Astonished and surprised, Zero looked back at X, who was looking up at the skyscraper with a face that could not be defined.

"Abel City is able to repair itself." X said, his tone as dull as his expression. "The humans who live here are protected- some even go so far as to say 'safe' as well. Before Dr Cain started to produce the Reploids, humans had to check the special systems needed every ten minutes to make sure everything worked as it should have and was up to code. Men and women, day and night, checking some monitor that controlled their city's ability to rebuild itself, protected their city for years -nearly half a century I was told- and now Reploids do that work."

"You don't make it sound like that was such a good thing." Zero smirked.

"It wasn't." X told him. "Humans are fallible- it's in their nature. Some humans would come in, sit for however long they were told to, then leave. Some humans came in upset, or angry, or tired- feeling some emotion that prevented them from doing their job properly. As far as I knew, none of the humans got paid either (not that it seems very important to me), and that was a big thing with them apparently. Dr Cain once told me that being called to protect the city for a few hours was like being called for jury duty- no one wanted to do it, but as citizens of the city you were both obligated and entitled to."

"So you don't like humans?" Zero entertained. "Wow, now I want to rip your head off for some reason I can not remember."

X stopped walking as if he remembered something and turned to look at Zero.

"Why did you attack Sigma and his team?" X asked. Zero looked at X as if he had told a really absurd joke.

"Me?" Zero asked in disbelief, "Attack that gargantuan asshole with the plasma sword? Yeah _right_."

"You did." X told him, sounding fairly blunt. "And you died."

Zero looked at X as if he were joking with him, but when Zero realized X was definitely not lying (and how honest he was being up to this point), the red Reploid gave the blue Reploid a rather hard stare.

"I can't remember anything before I first saw your Hikari built-mismatched software face. I vaguely remember hearing things about humans and having to protect them from something, but that is all I know. I don't know how you define 'Reploid,' but whatever I was earlier would not have matched that description at all."

X nodded, showing that he understood. But this brought up more questions than answers X realized.

"What do you mean my software is mismatched?"

Zero opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a call through X's helmet.

"I'm sure you two are aware that Vile is running amok again." Sigma said in monotone though the headset.

"He passed by not that long ago," X agreed, "Would you like us to track him down and help detain him?"

"Yes." Sigma said, "And be done quickly; Dr Cain would like to see how our 'captive' Maverick is doing."

"Yes sir." X agreed before turning to look at Zero.

"So you do trust him." Zero observed with a smirk.

"More than I trust you right now." X argued. Zero shook his head at X.

"Touche."


	8. Checkpoints

"Reploids do not age Gate- let alone grow."

"I-I know Nana! But... but she _does_!"

"Gate..."

Gate looked helplessly at Nana. He was sure of what he was saying, but she wasn't believing him. They were built together -they even shared the same basic model number- and knowing that she didn't believe him made Gate even more uneasy than what he was.

"You haven't even known her for half a year yet, it's only been four months." Nana then said. "How can you be sure?"

Gate opened his mouth, then closed it again- unsure of what to say.

"Gate... I know this means a lot to you, but... the humans will start to think that you are a Maverick. _I'm_ beginning to think you're Maverick."

"Since when did the word 'Maverick' become synonymous with 'crazy'?"

Nana did not have an answer and only looked down at the ground in dismay.

"Nana," Gate started with a sigh, "I know you think I'm crazy, and I think I am too, but... the thought that Alia could be a Reploid that ages... doesn't that scare you?"

Nana did not answer, leading Gate to put his hands on her shoulders- softly making her look him in the eye.

"I can't do this without you Nana." Gate told her softly. "I may be crazy, I may be Maverick, but I can't face the consequences of knowing that what I fear could be true. I need someone to Navigate me through this Nana, and I would like your support. Please..."

Nana looked at Gate, then slowly started to smile.

"I-" Nana started to say, but was cut off when Alia walked into the room with a storybook in hand.

"Nana, can you read me pin-oak-eh-oh again?" the little Reploid asked, taking care to slowly pronounce 'Pinocchio.' Nana turned around to face the little being with a smile.

"Of course!" Nana agreed with a light chuckle. Alia smiled wide as she and Nana left the room to read the storybook, leaving Gate alone to his thoughts.

An aging Reploid...

Was the world even ready for that kind of paradoxical thought?

. . .

"If Vile is so reckless, why on earth do you keep him around?" Zero asked as he bent down to look at a Reploid corpse that had been attacked only moments before.

"Vile isn't bad..." X said as he chose not to look at the destruction around them, "He's just..."

"Ax crazy?" Zero inputted. X shook his head in disagreement.

"He just likes explosions I guess." X mumbled. Zero snorted.

"I like explosions as much as the next Reploid, but that doesn't mean I plan on setting off Armageddon in the process."

X did not look at Zero as the two continued on, the destruction made in Vile's wake was progressively getting worse as well. Zero and X traveled on forward until they heard a rather familiar cackle near them.

"So _that_ is why the air feels different."

X and Zero looked up and saw Vile sitting on top of a roof nearby. In defense, X and Zero raised their Mega Busters at Vile- who cackled at them again. Vile jumped off the roof and landed in front of the duo softly and expertly. With another cackle, Vile put his hands behind his head and knelt to the ground.

"I've had my fun." he claimed, "Take me back to Yoshiya, or Sigma, or whatever. The air out here is getting rather... sickly."

Without needing to tell X twice, he put down his Mega Buster and started to get Vile ready to be taken in. But Zero remained where he was.

"You're so easy to trust X." Vile told X calmly as the blue Reploid was almost done tying the Maverick up. "I bet you haven't even realized that he carries something rather deadly- let alone that he let loose something that could harm all of us to begin with."

"Zero hasn't hurt anyone- unlike you."

Vile snickered.

"You really don't believe that I would have done that much carnage alone? Ha, please! I didn't even need to lift a finger on my way over here! You'll start seeing it more often X- Reploids are losing their balance, losing control of their limbs, innocent humans being hurt when their Reploid friends go completely mad! We were always imperfect in some way X, but thanks to your new friend- we now have a can of worms that may never be completely sealed again."

X ignored Vile- but the seeds Vile wanted to grow had been sown into X's mind.


	9. Existential

"You two have made a rather powerful alliance over the past six months." Dr Cain told X and Zero as he lay on a hospital bed. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you two were brothers."

Dr Cain gave a small smile as he adjusted his position a little.

"You two are the only true Reploids in this era- you were both cut from the same cloth, but made by different men for different reasons. But throughout all of these differences, you two have found a way to bond and be better than any other Reploid creation we have seen from this past year. I am very proud of both of you and I hope that you both do well with your futures after I pass."

"What about Sigma?" X asked.

"I will speak to my son soon- but I believe you two have other places to be."

Understanding, Zero and X nodded before turning around and leaving Dr Cain behind in the hospital. As the duo got onto their respective hover motorcycles- X was thinking about something.

"Do you think that Dr Cain is going to die soon?" X asked Zero. "He's not even in his sixties yet."

Zero hesitated a few moments, unsure of how to answer the question.

"All humans die X." Zero then said, albeit rather quietly, "It was the way they were made- it's what they are all destined to do some day. Dr Cain is open to say that he was a smoker for a long time, and he had other health concerns in his childhood that could be coming back again. I... I'm not made to predict when a human will die, but I do... I do think Dr Cain's time is almost over."

"Does he have a religion?" X then asked as Zero started up his motorcycle. Zero looked at X in a rather bizarre way- but then again, X was asking some really bizarre questions. Why did he care?

"He might have mentioned being Catholic before." Zero said. "Or maybe he was Methodist- I can't remember, it could have been both, really."

"So... he believes in God?"

"Do you?"

Zero didn't mean for the question to strike through the both of them like a sword- but it was how it ended up coming out. X did not look at Zero as the blue Reploid started up his motorcycle.

"Where do we go when we die? Does the high being that created humans take us in as well? Where..."

"X," Zero said, somewhat interrupting X's thoughts, "We have some place to be- can we have this conversation again later?"

X looked up at Zero and nodded.

"You... you're right. Let's go."

. . .

"There you are!" Sigma said when Zero and X came to the scene. "A Mechaniloid is going Maverick and you two are out having tea?!"

"We were talking with Dr Cain, Sigma. You know that." Zero told the taller Reploid calmly.

"I don't care who you were talking to, the casualty count is too high right now for me to care where the hell you were. End it. Now!"

With a nod, Zero and X went to action.

"Look! It's Zero and X!"

"Finally!"

"Zero! X!" Storm Eagle shouted, waving at the duo to get their attention. Without a further instruction, Zero and X made their way over to Storm Eagle for a quick -and impromptu- briefing.

"We were talking with Dr Cain, Storm Eagle, what do we need to do?" Zero asked.

"Well, we can do a lot better now that you two are here." Storm Eagle told them. "Over half of the Reploids here can't stand up straight or have a problem with their targeting sensors. We had to... execute... some of them ourselves."

"They couldn't have all gone Maverick- not under such short notice." X interjected.

"I admit that some of them have been claiming to not feel well- if they knew who they were. That decision was mostly on my behalf, but this is simply out of control."

"Sounds like a serious problem." Zero observed, growing more interested in the situation. X remained silent as a fear came over him that he could not voice out loud.

"A problem we have no time for." Storm Eagle firmly told them. Storm Eagle then put his hand to his ear to activate the headsets that beamed to every Reploid's helmet in the midst of battle. "Attention remaining Reploids, Zero and X are here to help assist you to detain the Mechaniloid- resume standard formations."

. . .

Once knowing that Zero and X were at the scene, Sigma took the incentive to go see Dr Cain. There was no doubt that Zero and X could take down the Mechaniloid without him- and if not, then they knew he would come back regardless.

Sigma entered Dr Cain's hospital room without knocking or asking. The dying man looked at Sigma with a weary smile.

"I wondered when you would get here." Dr Cain said to Sigma with a voice a lot more tired than what it had been for Zero and X. Sigma said nothing as he got close to Dr Cain's side.

"You're almost dead." Sigma said with a tone in his voice that Dr Cain could not decipher.

"So it may seem," Dr Cain agreed, "And I want you to share my last words."

"Why? You seem to favorite X more than the Reploid you call 'son'. Words are so fickle to you humans, aren't they?"

Dr Cain did not answer this, but worked out a small smile.

"Jealousy -real jealousy- inside a being so inhuman in every way. Amazing how far we have come within the last year, isn't it?"

Sigma only gave Dr Cain a hard stare. Dr Cain, being no fool even in his dying state, picked up on this.

"I know what you plan on doing when I die." Dr Cain told Sigma, his tone becoming low. "In a way, I think I always knew such a thing was going to happen- just like God knew that man would sin while in innocence. There is nothing I can do to stop you- I only ask why. How could such a thing benefit you at all? You have seen X and Zero grow in potential and strength, what more do you need to prove it?"

Sigma stared at Dr Cain as if he had no idea what he was talking about, but the mildly confused expression soon became sinister.

"Fear is a powerful master." Sigma admitted. "The growing rise of Reploids forgetting who they are, their limbs twitching or acting without their will, how those Reploids end up being labeled Maverick because of their new potential to harm humans. What do I gain? I gain everything I want to know- about this new 'virus' and the potential really hidden inside Zero and X."

"Zero has reached his potential, but you will never be able to find the potential in X- he is a blackbox in a world of open gears, you will never be able to unlock it."

Sigma sneered as he walked closer to pull Dr Cain's IV cable. Dr Cain looked on, doing nothing to stop Sigma from killing him.

"But Father, you misunderstand _my_ potential." Sigma softly declared as the heart monitor went flat.


	10. Five Years On, No Truth

_It has been five years since hell broke loose in Abel City. Sigma, not long after the death of Dr Yoshiya Cain, went Maverick and orchestrated the most obscene breach in Reploid history- and we have only been active for a year at the time. Humans are now wary to trust us- but there are still some who would trust Reploids with their lives. But there is another problem than the ones that Sigma has a control over- something that they call the Maverick Virus. Not exactly deadly in a classical sense, but it goes about a Reploid like naegleria fowleri in humans with the results being just as horrifying. Contrary to popular belief after the death of Yoshiya Cain, this virus is not able to infect humans- only Reploids... or... anything inorganic. I have heard that it can spread to a robotic appendage in a human, but it is nothing I would discuss around Alia for some rather... grotesque (and therefore obvious) reasons._

_It's... it's also been about five years since I first met Alia. Today was the exact day, actually. I've discussed this with Nana before, and we both agree it's time to tell Alia the truth. Or the truth that we know, for the most part. She _does_ age- but she is not human... however, I'm not entirely sure if she should be placed under the definition of 'Reploid' either. My 'daughter' is a walking paradox, and the more I learn about her, the more paradoxical she seems to become. Alia is... _

_I must do all that I can to protect her because this... creature is truly a marvel to behold..._

_. . ._

"Are we going to make magnesium based fireworks again this year? That was so cool! I bet they saw them all the way in Abel City!"

"You don't even know where we're going."

"So we _are_ going to make them!"

"I did _not_ say that..."

Gate had to hand it to the young Reploid- she sure didn't know when to shut up. Although he had found her five years ago to the date when she appeared to be a common three year old human, she stood high enough to stare straight at his chest when he measured her every week. He figured, cognitively, she must have been in her early teen years by now- not only because that was how she acted, it was also how she looked. The reason behind this blew Gate's mind, and he hoped it would amaze her too when he told her. But they had to do something first...

When they were close to their destination, Gate covered Alia's eyes with his hands with no warning beforehand.

"Hey!" Alia said in surprise as she stretched her arms out to feel where she was going.

"Where we're going is a surprise- you don't want to ruin it, do you?"

Alia folded her arms in an act of pouting, but her mouth was stretched to a smile.

"Fine." she agreed, pretending to be angry.

After some careful navigating, Gate led Alia to their destination safely before he uncovered her eyes. At first, Alia thought she should be happy- but her real reaction was mixed. Gate had led her to a house that was half way crumbled and by no means livable. Gate looked at her expression and felt a bit disappointed that she did not see the potential inside the old home.

"Anything you find, you can keep." Gate hold her.

"You're kidding." Alia said, still unsure of how to react.

"Anything you find, you can keep." Gate repeated. "I even chose a spot for you to pick at too."

"So you've been here before?" Alia asked as she started to follow Gate.

"About five years ago, give or take." Gate agreed.

Alia nodded to show that she understood as her artificial mind drew conclusions from past experiences. Seeing her make this thought process made Gate beam even more. Taking her by the hand, Gate led her to the side of the old home and carefully pried open a pair of bilco doors then descending into the basement. Gate got out a flashlight and gave it to Alia, then got another flashlight for himself.

"This place..." Alia said uncertainly, "I... I know this place..."

Gate looked at her and smiled before walking to something in a corner of the basement.

"Come here for a moment." Gate told her, motioning for her to come closer to where he stood. Without being told twice, Alia came over and stared at what Gate wanted to show her.

"It's..." she started to say, but the words were lost in thought.

"This is the capsule we found you in five years ago." Gate told her, running his hand over the status pod carefully. Alia looked at him, then she looked at the capsule. Out of curiosity, she got closer to it and started to sit on it. Gate watched on with interest as Alia found that she could not fit if she laid down.

"There's no way you found me in that thing- it's too small." Alia concluded as she got up again.

"We did, because you were a lot smaller when we first found you." Gate said, his smile growing wider with anticipation. Alia looked at him as if he were high and speaking nonsense. In a way, she was beginning to think he was.

"Alia, you are a Reploid that can age." Gate finally said. Alia shook her head in disbelief, but Gate took her shoulders and squeezed them.

"Alia, you have a brain that is able to absorb information and store it- the more information your brain stores, the more it grows. When your brain grows, it forms connections to the rest of your body allowing it to grow as well. You are aging as you learn more about the world- you are the only Reploid in existence to do so. You are invaluable."

Alia looked at Gate in the eye and only became more uncomfortable the longer she looked at him. She wanted to take a step back- but he was holding onto too tightly.

"You... you're hurting me." she finally said. Upon her saying this, Gate realized that he was holding her a bit too tightly and let go of her. Alia backed away from him- a certain look of new found fear nearly made Gate's heart break into two.

"Would you like to explore the area a little before we leave?" Gate asked her softly. Alia did not say anything- but she nodded as she gave a weak little smile.


	11. Finder's Weepers

"Holy...! Gate, there's compact discs here! They don't even make them anymore! Can I keep them, there's so many! Wait, wait, wait! Gate, does Nana still have that Super Definition stereo converter? We can see if they still work!"

Gate laughed at Alia as she acted as if she were opening presents on Christmas.

"Anything you find, you can keep." Gate told her. Alia looked up at him with so much joy and glee that she gave him a hug. Gate did not like the embrace, but he smiled in spite of himself and gave her a hug back.

She was his- and he planned on keeping it that way.

. . .

"Do it X- end me." Sigma threatened with a sneer. X had Sigma wounded to the point of mortal danger, but was hesitating to pull the final trigger. Sigma was only taunting the blue Reploid now, knowing that X would hesitate and buying time for Sigma to signal one of his few remaining comrades to aid him. X's hesitation in dealing the final blow was not unexpected (the more Sigma was detained, the more X started to hesitate) and it was something Sigma counted on.

X turned away from Sigma's gaze before finally pulling the trigger. Sigma chuckled as his systems went offline from critical damage, and when knowing he was gone X turned to face him again. Sigma's face was as smug as ever- even in death. X only looked at the shell of Reploid that became recognized as Sigma until Zero came with a few other Reploids for recon.

Zero was quick to understand that X was distressed, and put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder. But X gave Zero a look that hit like little daggers and pushed Zero away. Zero frowned and followed X to an area outside the recon zone.

"I'm done." X mumbled as he took off his helmet. X's dark brown hair was short with a little flip parted at the right side of his head- it was once longer, shaggier, and went in every direction possible, but he had gotten it cut with full understanding that it would never grow back.

"The humans will be at peace now, you can take a little break." Zero told his friend. "Until Vile gets out again."

X ran his fingers through his hair before turning to Zero.

"For how long?" X questioned. "Nowadays it seems like the peace between battles keeps growing shorter and shorter. When will humans ever be at peace again? Can we be redeemed for all the problems we caused them?"

"We are doing all we can." Zero told X. "If it makes you feel any better, reports of a natural Mavericks in dropping."

"But they still happen, don't they?" X snapped. "I'm done."

X roughly handed Zero his helmet.

"I'm not doing this anymore. Five years have gone by and none of this is over- if it even truly began. I do not want to have to do anything related to Mavericks or Sigma or Vile or... or anything!"

"You're not going to kill yourself!" Zero shouted, tossing X's helmet to the ground. X looked at Zero as if he was speaking a different language.

"I'm not going to kill myself." X told Zero. "I'm running away. I'm going to change my name. I'm going to get the fuck out of here and never look behind."

Zero just looked at X, unsure of what to say or tell him.

"I think you need some time to think this out a little more X, because..."

"I thought this out when Sigma was activated!" X snapped. "I thought this out when Vile destroyed Abel City once a week! I thought this out when they found you! I thought this out when I destroyed every Reploid that _I_ helped create! The world doesn't need me in it at the moment- so I'm going to disappear. I'll be dead without being dead, I'll have a real life."

Zero frowned.

"And then what?" he asked. "Humans will find out that you're a Reploid soon enough. What do you plan on doing? Starting a family of humans? You're not even human enough to even begin creating any! You can't just start up a new life, get your true identity found out, then leave again- what's the point?"

X looked at Zero, then looked away.

"Think about it, one more time." Zero told X. "And I will support you even if I think the idea is a bunch of bullshit."

"Thank you Zero."

. . .

Vile would have been proud- he was almost certain of it. That explosion was _wicked_, and no one had been around to see it. Oh well, at least he tried...? It didn't matter right now, he had other things to do any way besides being a pest for the Reploid Police Force. The 'Pfft' as he liked to call it. Actually, Vile called them Pfft (among other, rather rude, things) but it was the one he liked the most to take on as his own.

He happened to see them for far away, but he was able to hear what they were saying clear enough. The girl was to the guy's chest- but her bouncing with excitement made her appear to be taller. As the girl bounced, her blonde hair that was held in a low, but tight bun bounced along with her. The man that was with the girl looked like he was a scientist, but he appeared to be wearing some kind of wetsuit or something under the coat, which also had a matching helmet that completely covered his hair... if he had any.

He watched to girl and guy interact as they walked along. The girl was obviously very excited about something, but the guy seemed... off. The guy talked with the girl as if he had loved her, but it didn't seem like real love. Or... it didn't appear to look like real love- not that he had a lot of experience with the human folly.

He smirked playfully. Well... the girl was cute enough, why not say hello?


	12. On My Own

If it wasn't for Alia having compassion, Gate would have never let the vagrant come into their cottage. Nana, too, had found come compassion toward the stranger without knowing much about him- which made Gate feel angered. Wasn't he the Reploid in charge here, not the ladies who swooned over the illusive stranger? A cocky stranger too, but Gate was sure he was in a losing battle here any way- anything he would have said would be used against him and twisted to mean something else.

"What did you say your name was?" Alia asked the stranger curiously as they sat opposite of each other in the living room.

"Axl." the stranger told her with a sly smile. Alia blushed a little in a way that some how made Gate furious.

"Where did you say you were from?" Nana asked, also curious.

"I roam here and there." Axl admitted. "I'm never in one spot for long- but I don't think I want to really, staying put sounds kind of boring some days. You know?"

"You're a young Reploid full of life," Nana agreed, "I can see how the idea of settling down would bore you."

"How about you?" Axl asked, turning to Alia. "What do you plan on doing?"

"I help Gate with his experiments and stuff. He's learning how to manipulate-"

"That's not what I asked you." Axl interrupted. "I meant what are you going to do when you leave? You can't stay here forever."

Alia opened her mouth to reply, but she found she had no answer. She had never thought about what would happen if she wasn't living with Gate and Nana anymore. Seeing this conflict on her face made Axl curiously look at Gate and Nana for their reactions. Nana was looking at Gate, who in turn seemed to look as if he had zoned out and wasn't even paying attention to the conversation.

"And this family is the reason why I don't stay in one place for long." Axl noted. "Don't any of you have a life outside this little shack?"

No one answered him. Eventually though, Gate stood up.

"I believe it's time for you to leave Axl." Gate said quietly. Alia shot Gate a surprised look and stood up quick enough for one to assume she had gotten shocked.

"No! You can't make him leave yet!" Alia shouted. Gate gave Alia a damaging glare.

"You need to go to bed. Now." Gate softly demanded.

"But-!"

"Now, Alia." Gate demanded. Alia looked at him as if he had betrayed her, then she went off with a huff. Gate watched her leave then turned to tell Axl to leave again, but the vagrant Reploid was gone already.

With that, Nana started to head toward her bedroom as well.

"I can't believe you." she said quietly, leaving before Gate could say anything else.

. . .

Midnight was when Alia was sure Gate would be sleeping. She crept into his room and walked up to a panel near the head of Gate's bed. Alia took the panel off and messed around with some wires before putting the panel back on.

"I'm sorry Gate." Alia told the sleeping Gate, "But Axl was right- staying in place is boring after awhile. I'll come back some day, but I want to know what's out there first. You never let me go any where besides at your hip- some days we never even left the house. The world begins and ends with me, I want to stretch my horizons to see how far they will go. This isn't good bye, it's just... see you soon. I promise I'll be back- I promise."

Without looking back at Gate, Alia left the room without a tear or hint of remorse. Coming back was not part of her agenda at all- she had rigged his bed to keep him sleeping long enough so she could get away. It would be long enough that he wouldn't be able to track her easily.

Gate was going to be sleeping long enough so that she would be able to be free.

. . .

Axl really didn't travel that far away after two days. He kind of liked the area- it was the remains of a world that was left behind over a hundred years ago, and it was a great feeling for him to see all those all old homes and imagine who lived in them. He didn't expect to get jumped on by two members of the Reploid Police Force.

"Where is she?" a voice almost familiar shouted at Axl. The young Reploid could not see who it was, but it hadn't been that long ago since he had heard that voice.

"I don't have her if that's what you're asking." Axl said truthfully. A Reploid stood in front of Axl that confirmed who Axl thought it was; Gate. There was something in Gate's hand that Axl couldn't quite make out from his position- it almost looked like a knife, or a taser. But what good would that do to a Reploid...?

"You are lying." Gate growled, getting down low so Axl could see him face to face. "Where is she?"

"I told you, I don't have her!" Axl shouted, almost fearing that Gate wasn't listening.

"YOU ARE LYING!" Gate hollered as her raised his arm with that mysterious thing. In two quick slashes, Gate cut the bridge of Axl's nose in a distinct X shape. Axl screamed in pain that was mixed with surprise; apparently a knife could cut through Reploids pretty well with enough force...

"WHERE! IS! ALIA?!" Gate shouted again with rage that nearly shook the ground. Axl put his face on the ground- the pain was hard and unbearable. He couldn't give Gate a response in the state he was in, and Gate knew that.

"Lock him up with Vile." Gate told the Reploid Police Force. "He'll talk eventually."

"You're a... an asshole." Axl hissed with pain as the Pfft roughly picked him up. Gate said nothing, but it was a satisfying answer for Axl.


	13. A Very Human Emotion

Love is a chemical in the human brain, its existence is both a blessing and a curse. Reploids do not have a human brain- but some are equipped with the ability to love. These are the Reploids that need to be feared and respected. They are the Reploids that completely blur the lines of what it takes to be human- Zero is a Reploid equipped with the ability to love, and it was something he would never trade.

Iris liked retro music- going as far back as to the late 20th century. Unfortunately, a lot of the music Iris liked Zero couldn't find for the life of him. But that one duet with the piano and violin spoke to him as he went through an outdated music base to find a song Iris would like for their date. Geez, why was he so nervous about this?

"I like this club." Iris said as she swayed her hips to the beat of the sound that played over the speakers. Zero smiled, hoping that she would have. The Network was the last known club in Abel City that played retro music, it was normally where Iris hung out when she wasn't working. It wasn't really special enough to be a date spot- but there was no better place to take Iris than to her most favorite place in the world.

"Come dance with me." Iris told Zero, holding her arms out so he would take them and join her.

"You know I don't dance." he said with a smile.

"That's a bunch of baloney and you know it." Iris rebutted. "Dance with me."

Zero gave Iris a rather ambiguous smile.

"I need to do something first." Zero said.

"Typical!" Iris said, throwing her hands in the air. "Always an excuse!"

Zero laughed and walked up to the DJ. Iris looked on curiously as Zero said something to the DJ, handed him a music chip, then came back to Iris. A song started to play as Zero offered his hand in dance. Iris took a moment, almost recognizing the song.

"Say Something?" she guessed, looking at Zero suspiciously. Zero said nothing as he led into into a slow dance. The two danced as the music guided their every step.

"I wish it could always be like this." Iris whispered as she put her head on Zero's shoulder. Zero gave a small smile as he lifted her chin up to look her in the eye.

"I do too." he said as he softly kissed her on the lips.

. . .

"Name?" the hotel concierge asked dully.

"Roch Roru Landiao." X recited carefully. The concierge looked at X, then looked down at the guest record.

"You're here for the Hikari Tribute meeting?" the concierge asked. X nodded.

"Yes sir." X agreed. The concierge nodded and got something out from a drawer in his desk.

"The meeting room for the Tribute is down the second hallway on the left. Use this button to get in- it will give you basic allowance into any rooms being used for the Tribute." the concierge told X as he handed him a button with a QR code on it. "Have fun."

"Thank you." X said before heading where the concierge had told him. X walked to the door the concierge had told him of and started to open it. But the door swung open without X even touching it, and someone ran into him at full force without even looking sent the both of them flying backwards.

"I'm sorry." X and the person he ran into both said at the same time as they got up. X got up before the other, so he helped them up. The one that ran into him was a female college student- she has dark orange pixie cut hair that was a bit longer in the back, and when she looked up she looked at him with wide amber eyes.

"I really am sorry." she said. "I get clumsy when I'm not watching where I'm not going."

"No, it's fine." X insisted. "I wasn't looking either, so we should both take the blame."

The student smiled at him.

"Are you coming inside for the Tribute?" she then asked.

"Yeah." X agreed. "I heard they had an exhibit of the first successful Reploid known to human kind- Mega Man, I think they named him."

"I like that exhibit, I can show it to you if you want." the student offered.

"That would be very kind of you, thank you." X said.

"Oh, my name is Aero by the way." the student said as they walked to the exhibit together, "Aero Lillian Sephira, but just call me Sephira- I had an aunt named Aero. She did some things that can't exactly be forgiven..."

"My name is Roch Roru Landiao," X told her, "But just Roch is fine."

"Rock, Roll, and Blues." Sephira laughed. X frowned.

"What's so funny about that?"

"Oh nothing." Sephira laughed again, confusing X this time. But he went with it any way- maybe he'd ask her again later.

* * *

><p><strong>Say Something (I'm Giving Up On You) by A Great Big World Featuring Christina Aguilera<strong>

**It... um... reminded me of Zero and Iris, so it was mentioned in this chapter as the song Zero picks on their date. I, uh, I'm sorry about that...**


	14. Blinding Connections

Alia liked the rain. As it fell on the streets near the inside areas of Abel City, the rain water reflected the lights of Main Street so nicely that it could have been magic. Why did Gate keep this world away from her? It was so amazing! Best of all, she had found that she had grown three inches since leaving three days ago because she had learned a lot since being out of Gate's care.

Alia walked along the sidewalk with a lively step, at one point she walked passed a homeless man that had a small collection of instruments that caught Alia's eye.

"Some money for the homeless, young lady?" the homeless man asked as he held up a tin can. Alia shook her head.

"I don't have any money." Alia told him. "I'm kind of homeless myself, really."

The homeless man gave her a broken smile.

"At least you're honest ma'am." the homeless said with a snort. Alia, sensing that he was a kind man, gave him a wide smile in return. Alia gaze soon turned to look at a guitar the man had- it was odd from wear and weather, and the strings used to play had been retied in knots.

"What happened to your guitar?" Alia asked, pointing to the old instrument.

"Uh?" the homeless man asked, turning to look at the guitar as if he hadn't realized it was there earlier. "Oh, you mean ol' Santana. She's seen better days I'm afraid, but she's been in my family for five generations- I'd really hate to pawn her just for dinner."

"Can I play her?"

The homeless man looked at Alia as if she had told him that she had committed murder.

"I... guess so. Sit down."

"Thank you." Alia said politely, sitting far enough from the homeless man for elbow room, took up the guitar, then started to tune the instrument to her liking. When she had it adjusted to the way she wanted, Alia started to play her song.

"_Seems that I have been held in some dreaming state,_" Alia started to sing, "_A tourist in the waking world but never quite awake. No kiss, no gentle word could wake me from this slumber... until I realize it was you who held me under._"

"Not bad madam." the homeless man told her, sounding rather impressed. Alia smiled as she continued while a small crowd started to form around the two.

"_No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone. No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden. No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love... No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world._"

Humans and Reploids alike on the busy and wet street and sidewalks heard Alia sing and came over to investigate further. Some even put money into the homeless man's tin can. When Alia finished her song, she was given a small round of applause before the crowd of three faded into the norm again.

"Did you always play the guitar?" the homeless man asked Alia as he counted the money inside the tin can.

"I'm a good sight learner." Alia told him. The homeless gave her a wary glance from this statement, but he shrugged it off as he handed her some of the money she had collected.

"Here," he told her, "Fifty-fifty even... almost. You played on my guitar, but you were the one that played."

"Thank you." Alia said as she took the money with care. "But I'm not done yet."

"Then you can stay for as long as you want and whatever you earn we split fifty-fifty."

"Deal!"

. . .

"So this is Mega Man?" X asked as he and Sephira looked at the life size replica of the first Reploid.

"You're not impressed?" Sephira asked curiously.

"He looks so..."

"Human?"

"Well... yeah." X agreed, turning to look at Sephira.

"It's because he is."

X gave Sephira a bewildered look.

"He's a Reploid, the first of his kind." X argued, feeling rather confused.

Sephira shook her head.

"Not according to my great-grandmother." Sephira told him. "According to her, from what I've heard back from my grandmother, Mega Man was once a human but he was given new life in a fancy robotic suit after he was left for dead in an accident. Roll, too, was once a human and was given new life after she protected her friends from a power mad enemy."

"That sounds... rather familiar." X slowly said.

"I don't know why though." Sephira said, looking at him, "My great-grandmother claimed she was the only one that knew the truth- everything else is propaganda on Thomas Hikari's part."

"Who... was your great-grandmother?" X then asked.

"Follow me." Sephira told him before she guided him to a framed picture that sat inside a small display case.

"You see that blonde haired girl next to Roll?" Sephira asked.

"Yeah."

"That's my great-grandmother, her name is Kalinka Cossack. Have you heard of her before?"

* * *

><p><strong>Blinding by Florence + the Machine (c) 2009 Island Records<strong>


	15. Someone to Trust

"Zero, do you need backup?" Iris asked over Zero's headset as Zero was slammed into a wall by a Maverick Reploid.

"No." Zero groaned as he recovered.

"Alright." Iris agreed. "I'll send Colonel with backup to help."

Zero smirked as he used his beam saber to cut the Maverick's arm off.

"Thanks Iris." he said into his headset. "I'd be dead without you."

Although couldn't see her, Zero was sure that he had made her blush.

. . .

X and Sephira had found a small cafe near the hotel to get a bite to eat although all X wanted to do was hound Sephira with questions.

"How did Kalinka know all of this?" X asked.

"She was close to Roll." Sephira told him. "Gran said that Kalinka always thought of Roll as a sister, and they acted like it too. Before Roll died, Gran said that she treated her like a daughter as much as Kalinka did."

"How did Roll die if she was a Re... cyborg?" X asked.

"Gran never said how exactly- but I've always assumed that Roll's human self wanted to die, and her robotic self just... followed suit."

"That's... rather depressing."

"You have no idea Roch." Sephira told him rather sternly. "Roll had seen Mega and Proto Man die before her eyes, Roll had been at Kalinka's side when she died as well. When Roll wanted to die, no one she knew or loved was alive any more- in a way, she just gave up. Why go on if everyone around you is just going to die any way?"

This was an interesting thought for X, and he thought about it as the waiter came by to give Sephira a steaming cup of tea. The steam from the delicious smelling tea made Sephira glow as she brought the cup close to her face for a smell. Watching her made X's stomach lurch, but it wasn't for the reason he thought it was. Sephira happened to look up and saw X giving her an odd look.

"You want some?" Sephira asked, offering her cup to him. "It's vanilla-peppermint rooibos, with a hint of honey. It'll clear your sinuses up faster than a rocket."

"No thanks." X told her, waving the cup away. "I'm not hungry."

Sephira gave X a side glance as she took a sip from the steaming tea. Again, X felt a lurch in his stomach when she looked at him like that. Was he malfunctioning or something? He didn't technically have a stomach any way, really...

"You know..." Sephira slowly said as she set her cup down gently on the table, "All we've done since we met is talk about Mega Man- how about we talk about something else. Like, oh I dunno, ourselves maybe."

The lurch in X's stomach became a lump in his throat without any conscious thought.

"I, uh... I guess we could." X agreed. Sephira gave a small smile as she made her finger trace the rim of her cup in decision.

"How about I start first, since you've been asking all the questions before?" she offered, lifting a cocky eyebrow. Unconsciously, X clenched and unclenched his fists with nervousness.

"Sure." he agreed with a smile in spite of himself. Sephira gave X a mysterious smile as she took another sip of tea before asking,

"Are you a Reploid?"

. . .

Vile cackled as he and Axl fled to Reploid Detention Center in the midst of a jail riot. Vile had started it naturally, Axl had only helped sell the split. The two managed to get out of the facility and scrambled to get to an alley near the outskirts of Abel City.

"After this," Vile told Axl after they believed they were safe, "I hope to never see your smug little face again."

"Ditto." Axl agreed with a playful huff. After completely catching their breathes, Axl and Vile turned to look at each other and gave each other a handshake. Without another word, Vile escaped up a fire escape with his familiar cackle. Axl gave a rather dissatisfied huff then walked away to find some place to go for the night. In all due honestly, Axl didn't like being alone- the urban decay around him didn't help much either.

"_Snow White's stitching up your circuit boards, someone's slipping through the hidden door... Snow White stitching up your circuit boards..._"

Axl picked up his head and quickly looked around the corner; that voice had been too familiar, there was no way he could have heard that properly. To his surprise, it was.

"Axl!"

In a moment of near inhuman speed, Axl was being hugged by someone he honestly thought he'd never see again.

"Hi... Alia." Axl said, giving her a timid hug back. "You've grown a lot since I last saw you..."

Well, at least he wasn't alone any more...


	16. Nothing Important

Zero's flat expression detailed everything.

"You're joking." Zero said, sounding as amused as he looked. Iris's expressionless face spoke for her.

"We have no idea how, but Sigma is back. Again."

Zero looked at Iris then at the computer that was showing a more detailed report.

"I can't believe that this is possible," Zero said, mostly to himself, "X and I destroyed every piece of DNA in that fucker's body so no one could build him again. Who the hell would..."

Iris uncomfortably shifted her weight.

"Have you tried contacting X yet?" Iris asked softly. Zero looked at Iris.

"If I knew how to contact him, we likely wouldn't be having this discussion right now." he told her rather darkly.

Iris looked down, unsure of what else to do. She started to say something but the ground started to shake as the sound of a maniacal laugh echoed through the building. Thinking quickly, Zero took Iris by the wrist.

"We need to get out of here." he told her roughly. "And when I find X, he'd better be doing something important."

. . .

Her alarm clock had been ringing for a good ten minutes before Sephira actually bothered to look at it. When she did, she jumped out of her bed quicker than lightning.

"Shit! Dr Weil's going to kill me if I'm late!"

In a mad dash frenzy, Sephira looked around her small, mildly untidy home for various articles of clothing that were strewn here and there on the floor. When X stirred from the couch, he was greeted with a topless Sephira as she looked around on the floor for a shirt. Apparently, she was in such a rush that she had forgotten that she had invited him over, and she only realized he was there when she happened to look over at him. She let out a startled scream as she threw a random sock at him in self defense.

"Stop looking at me and find a shirt, I'm late!"

Without being told twice, X started to look for a shirt behind the couch and around the area without looking at Sephira's shirtless body again. Sephira rushed to another room allowing X to look around the living room better.

"You know," he shouted to her, "You have some audacity inviting a stranger over without realizing you needed to go to work the next morning."

"_You_ have some audacity to..." Sephira started to say as she walked back out with a shirt on only to find that X had already averted his gaze to her shoes, expecting her to be topless. She had to admit it- Sephira was impressed, and she recoiled a little with a smirk.

"Here, catch." Sephira said before tossing something X's way. "It's a spare key for you."

"You really trust me with this?" X asked her, feeling a various array of emotions that he couldn't quite pin down.

"Is your model number 53X?"

"No..."

"Then congratulations, you're now a Latch Key 'Ploid."

X only gave Sephira an even more confused look.

"Don't burn my parents' house down." Sephira told him before heading out the door. X felt more confused than ever.

After a few moments of being absolutely astonished, X washed up in the bathroom and walked around the little house a bit since he wasn't given a tour the night before. Finding a washer and dryer in the kitchen, X decided it would be a nice idea to clean up the house a little. It was the least he could do, really, since she let him spend the night. He never went into her bedroom though although the door was slightly cracked open from her morning frenzy- but X knew how rude that would have been for a guest to do so he went outside instead.

The fenced off backyard was were he found a garden patch. Curious, X checked the garage for gardening tools and started to work on the abandoned area of dirt. Gee, if Zero would see was X was doing now...

. . .

"You must have known I was coming Zero." Sigma smirked. "Now that I'm here, I think I want some cake."

"Oh look, you've finally gotten a sense of humor." Zero retorted as he drew his saber. Sigma growled.

"I didn't come to fight you. Where is X?"

"Like hell if I know, it's your fault he left!"

"My... fault...?" Sigma asked, almost sounding genuinely surprised. "Does X not have free will? Is he not the 'father' of us Reploids, known for said free will? How could X's free will be my own fault when he was the one that built me?"

Zero said nothing, but the fury on his face answered well enough.

"Now," Sigma said carelessly, "Get out of the way, or I'll make sure you die this time."

Without a second guess, Zero attacked.


	17. Bonne Black Market

Axl handed it to her, Alia sure did know how to move around quickly. Maybe it was from fear and practice- they _were_ shopping on the black market after all. There were both human and Reploid vendors here, all of them made Axl appreciate that Vile wasn't as bad as what he looked. These guys though...

"Alia, I really don't think we need shoes today..." Axl said warily as they passed a Reploid vendor who was lacking both of his arms.

Alia made Axl stop in the middle of his tracks, and her face detailed utmost anger. Before Axl could ask what was wrong, Alia quickly reached for his shoe and yanked it off his foot in one swift motion. Axl lost his balance for a moment only because he was surprised Alia was that quick.

"Do you see this crappy thing?" Alia demanded, stuffing the shoe in Axl's face. "Do you see the huge holes in these shoes? Do they even keep your feet warm, let alone dry?! I can't even tell if these shoes are supposed to be white or black!"

"They were dark gray with red trim..." Axl mumbled. Alia threw her arms in the air with exasperation.

"Case and point!" she declared. "You're getting new shoes."

With an indignant huff, Axl followed Alia as they wandered further into the black market.

"Stay close." Alia said after some time, "I'm known pretty well around here, but I never bring someone with me."

"Pretty well known..." Axl laughed. "What's your street name then?"

"Nico Vega." Alia told him with a straight face. For the first time, Alia had left Axl speechless.

They walked for a little longer before Alia stopped at a certain spot that only contained a lone bed sheet. Alia bent down to inspect the ground- she felt all around the bed sheet as if she were looking for something, then she knocked on something hollow in the near middle of the bed sheet.

"Now we wait." Alia said as she stood up again.

"For how long?" Axl asked. Alia shrugged.

"It depends- but Mrs Bonne promised me she'd be here today."

"Mrs... Bone...?" Axl asked warily. Alia did not answer, instead she waited patiently. Suddenly, someone took a firm grip of Axl's shoulder, making the young Reploid jump away in surprise and shock with a scream.

"You brought a friend today, did you? I see he isn't much of a looker- honestly I thought you could do better than that dear." the one who scared Axl said. She appeared to be an older human with crow's feet around her eyes and permed gray hair tied back loosely in a low pony tail.

"Mrs Bonne!" Alia exclaimed happily, giving the older woman a hug. "We have an emergency."

"What kind dear?" Mrs Bonne asked. Once again, Alia used one swift motion to take off Axl's shoe and showed it to Mrs Bonne. One look at the shoe and Mrs Bonne shot Axl a horrifying look of anger. The old biddy then looked at Alia with an understanding look.

"Follow me, I have just what he needs."

. . .

X was potting the flowers by the door when Sephira came home. For a moment, she just froze there, unsure of what to say or do. Having a guy pot the flowers by her door was one thing, a Reploid doing it was another- especially when the Reploid in question wasn't designed for such a hobby. X noticed that Sephira was giving him weird looks when he looked up and saw that she was there. With a small flourish, X showed off the flowers proudly. Sephira still had no idea how to respond to this display.

"You don't like it." X asked, suddenly fearing he had crossed a line he shouldn't have. Sephira didn't answer and only stared. "I... I'm sorry, I'll take them out if you want to."

"No." Sephira quickly told them. "You can keep them, I just... What _is _your model number?"

X looked at her.

"Does it really matter?" he asked curiously, as he started to open the door for her to enter the house.

"Truthfully? It would ease my mind a little." Sephira admitted as she walked through the door and found a place to sit on her couch.

"How?" X asked even more curiously as he decided to sit down on the opposite side of the couch. Sephira looked at X uncomfortably before answering.

"Reploids have free will, but everything is destined for them the moment they are activated." Sephira told X, something he found he was genuinely surprised about, "Everything about them: personality, hobbies, jobs... No matter what the Reploids do or what happens to them, even with their so called free will, they always come back to the thing they were directly programmed for."

X was speechless, realizing that he was completely unaware of this- and he had helped build many Reploids while with Dr Cain...

"And then there's you." Sephira then said, her voice drifted off a little. "The Reploid with no destiny, no assigned job, any hobby he chooses, and it... it makes me confused... and so... so curious. When... when I was a kid, I used to fear robotic uprisings and all that jazz, but you... if my younger self had known you, I don't think I ever would have thought that."

X looked at her with a raised and curious eyebrow. Sephira only looked at him in a way that made his stomach lurch again. Sephira moved closer to him in some unconscious act of light headed thinking that X found he was unintentionally mirroring.

The closer they were to each other, the slower their breathing became and their hearts started to race a mile a minute. When their lips finally touched, time had stood still, the world melted away and nothing else mattered any more.


	18. When the Kids Come to Play

Axl tapped the toe of his new boots on the concrete of the sidewalk. They weren't bad at all, but he was still getting used to them.

"Stop doing that." Alia told him, swatting at his shoulder. "That's some of Mrs Bonne's finest work right there, don't break them already!"

"I'm not breaking them." Axl told her. "I'm breaking them _in_. Besides, I didn't ask for the woman to give me a whole outfit. I look like a retarded member of Pfft."

"Even retarded Reploids are useful." Alia retorted. "Besides, Mrs Bonne knows what she's doing- she was built with this powerful insight on hardware and stuff, and her husband makes it all for her."

"Whoa, wait- hold the phone!" Axl suddenly said. "You're tellin' me that Mrs Oldie is a Reploid?!"

Alia nodded.

"And Mr Bonne is a rather infamous mechanic who took over 20 years to perfect what he does."

"A Reploid married a human?!" Axl then blurted. "What are they, fucking mental? Who on earth would do that?! It's like... like..."

Before Axl could say any more, Alia slapped his across the face.

"I'll have you know that Mrs Bonne is very dedicated to her husband, and vice versa." Alia told Axl darkly. "Mrs Bonne gave up everything to be with Mr Bonne- without him she wouldn't be able to run the black market with the iron fist she has. Hell, she'd still be a sex bot if Mr Bonne didn't take pity on her and reprogram her to decide her own destiny."

Axl looked at Alia with mixed emotions now.

"I... I didn't know..."

"No. You didn't." Alia said, looking at him in a way that made Axl feel even worse. "But it makes me want to ask you a question; if such relations between Reploids and humans were illegal, who would be at fault- the Reploid who determined her fate with her given free will, or the human who recreated and renewed her purpose?"

Axl purposely held his tongue as he looked at Alia with a rather determined look. Above them, there was an explosion at a nearby building that made both of them look up. From the rubble, something red fell from the sky. Instantly, Alia ran to where the red figure was going to fall- surprised, Axl followed behind her. Axl started to pick up enough speed that his boots started to ignite at the sole.

"Alia!" Axl proclaimed as the boots lifted him up off the ground. Alia stopped for a moment to look and was instantly swept off her feet from the force Axl had from coming up to her with the now unhidden ability of his new boots.

"If I say anything harsh about the Bonnes again, feel free to kill me." Axl said merrily. Alia laughed in response.

. . .

"How does it feel Zero, to know that your friend could be fucking with a human right now?" Sigma sneered as he aimed a blow toward Zero that the Reploid barely dodged. Sigma snickered. "Imagine what would happen when others find out about such a relationship- star crossed lovers, how juicy! But wait, imagine what I would do when I find him..."

"X wouldn't be that single minded." Zero hissed in pain.

"Oh?" Sigma asked. "How is Iris nowadays?"

"Leave her out of this."

"I heard that her brother Colonel isn't doing so well. Couldn't remember who she was last week, isn't that right?"

Zero sneered as he tried to hit Sigma, but the taller Reploid simply stepped out of the way.

"It disappoints me that you're this weak." Sigma told Zero. "Dr Cain thought your potential was a lot more powerful than this, X's much more so- but he's not here right now, so I only have you to play with..."

Zero sneered at Sigma as the tall Reploid raised his beam saber to cast a finishing blow, but was stopped by an energy pellet that hit him in the side.

"Who?!" Sigma screamed with anger as he looked around for where the shot came from.

"Bull's-eye!" a young voice said from down the road. Zero and Sigma turned to see two kids- one was a boy dressed in full Reploid Police Force suit, the other was a young woman that was dressed in a standard Navigator uniform for the female variety. The one who had shot Sigma was the boy, who was flaunting with his luck shot as if it had been a one hit kill. Sigma turned to look at Zero.

"So you have a few friends, I see?" Sigma chuckled darkly. "Well, let's show them how the world really works... shall we?"

"You can't do that, they're just kids!" Zero shouted.

"Alia, find a way to help the Reploid, I'll get the Maverick." the boy told the girl. The young woman nodded, prepared to do battle if she needed to to get to Zero. Seeing them decide this made Sigma give a sinister laugh.

"If the kiddies want to play Zero, who am I to disagree?"


	19. Recruits

Alia moved quickly as she bandaged Zero up. Some times Zero would flinch from how tightly the young woman wrapped as she moved like lightning.

"Hold still Unko," she told him, "This will only take a minute if you just hold still."

Zero gave her a funny look.

"My name is Zero, madam." the red Reploid told her.

"That's what I said." she said back, looking at him with rather sincere eyes. For a moment, they took him by surprise- who was this girl, and why on earth did she just call him 'unko'?

Meanwhile, Axl was fighting pretty well against Sigma on his own- but he was getting hit rather hard when Sigma did land a blow.

"What is your model number?" Sigma asked after Axl had thrown a rather powerful punch. "You have much potential good sir."

"Do you want my phone number too?" Axl smirked. "I'm not telling a Maverick something so personal without getting to know them better. It's like asking a human what their sexuality is when they're secretly embarrassed about it."

Alia was helping Zero up when she shot Axl a rather hard look.

"Axl!" Alia snapped as if she were a concerned mother. Axl gave her a playful look then returned to Sigma.

"Apparently my mommy doesn't want me to give out such information to strangers- good bye!" Axl declared to Sigma before the young Reploid clicked his heels to activate his rocket boots to scoop both Alia and Zero up with ease and get them out of the area. Sigma watched them leave with a hard stare.

This just kept getting better and better for him...

. . .

"I'm obligated to thank you two," Zero told Alia and Axl after Axl had set the company down near a busy underpass, "But jumping in there was reckless of both of you- do you have any idea how badly you could have been hurt?"

The younger Reploids hung their heads in shame then mumbled a small 'sorry' in remorse.

"But you two showed impressive skill on the battlefield and I would hate to see it wasted easily." Zero then continued. "If you want, you can follow me to the Maverick Hunter HQ and we can have you two assessed."

Axl and Alia both looked at Zero with a surprised look- but their initial reactions were far different from the other.

"I would like it if you answered some questions for me first." Zero told them sternly. "I'd like to start with you first."

Axl looked up at Zero.

"Me?" Axl asked. Zero nodded.

"What is your Reploid Model Number?" Zero asked Axl. The young Reploid hesitated, but the hard and rather cold look on Zero's face made him answer.

"My actual Reploid number is really long and really boring for me to say all the way," Axl started, earning him a rather hard stare from Zero, "But I can tell you that I am the last of the Reploids built from Dr Cain's original plans. I'm kind of hybrid, really- but you didn't ask about that so I'm not going to elaborate."

"Last of Dr Cain's plans..." Zero said as he thought. "You're Axl, then?"

Axl nodded, but said nothing.

"You should consider yourself lucky then Axl." Zero told him. "Whoever built that armor for you knew you would be facing a Reploid as strong as Sigma- the Maverick Hunters would benefit from having you."

Axl nodded, then Zero turned his attention to Alia.

"You..." Zero started to say, but was unsure of how to approach the situation, "You and X share the same software... but your body structure actually matches it. Hikari didn't build you..."

"I can't say I know who that is." Alia admitted.

"I can understand that." Zero told her. "What I don't understand is how you said my name is 'Unko' when we have never met before- other than that, I hope you do know it's Zero."

"I know." Alia said as she began to lightly blush. "I didn't mean to call you that, really... It just... slipped out, I guess. For a moment, when I was helping you, I thought you were kind of familiar and what I said just..."

"Made sense?" Zero guessed, noticing that the young woman was quite truthful about her explanation. Alia looked at him and nodded.

"Whatever the case may be, the Maverick Hunters need a new Navigator. If you would like, I'm sure they will let you fill the position while we figure out who built you."

"Thank you." Alia said. "But only if Axl agrees to come too. He might not look like it, but he really doesn't like being alone."

"Hey...!" Axl said sheepishly, feeling his cheeks grow hot from embarrassment.

"It's up to you Axl." Zero told him. "Are you and Alia in or not?"

Axl looked at Alia then at Zero- a wide, determined smile stretched across his face.

"Just the thought of kicking some Maverick can around makes my trigger finger itch," Axl declared. "Sign us up!"


	20. Only If For a Night

X held Sephira tight as they sat on her couch. They were inseparable now- even the thought of leaving made one or both of them sick from withdraw. Sephira looked up as X as he smiled back at her before gently pulling her in for a hungry, lustful kiss. She enjoyed the embrace, and held her hand to his face to keep them together for as long as they wanted without hesitation. It was awhile before they withdrew to gaze at each other again.

"I love you." X said in a whisper -a tone of voice he found himself capable of after they had been in an embrace for so long- before he kissed her around her jaw line. Sephira let out a satisfied sigh as she clung tighter to X.

"Love... lust... I don't care anymore..." she said as he kissed her neck. Sephira pulled him back to look him in the eye, a certain twinkle in her eye made X's stomach lurch again but he no longer cared- it felt good with Sephira in his arms. "I love you so... so much..."

X smiled at Sephira and held his hands on her face, pulling her in for another kiss. But she pulled away and started to get up. X looked at her hopelessly, but she made him get up with her. She pulled him close, she leaned toward his ear and whispered words that had never made X's stomach lurch so horribly,

"I... I want to sleep with you. I'm ready..."

X looked at her with wide eyes, but she was thirsty- and there was no way denying he wasn't either.

"Are you sure?" he asked, his breath seemed to be far away from him in just uttering those words. Sephira nodded slowly as she took his hand and led him to her bedroom. It was the first time he had even been in the room, and the idea made him feel sick in a good way. She sat him on the bed and started to walk away.

"I need to change first." she told him in a near seductive tone before going into the bathroom. The still air around X suddenly made him realize what was going to happen. But the idea made him both sick and made his heart race fast enough that it made him wonder if it would escape from his chest. There was no turning back now though... and they were both so addicted to each other, some how the idea of sharing a bed just made sense...

Sephira came back from to the bedroom in black satin underwear, the sight of her took X's breath away. She gave an alluring smile as she walked to him- emphasizing her body more than what she had earlier. She sat on X's lap as she peeled off his shirt.

"We don't need that any more..." she said, looking at him with a playful smirk. Sephira wrapped her fingers around X's neck and kissed him with more hunger than ever before. X complied, letting her take control as each kiss began more vicious and alluring than the last.

Soon, Sephira pulled away and gave X a seducing, yet playful look before she started to move down, slowly peeling away his pants and underwear. X's fear suddenly came back when he realized that she was touching his genitalia with interest- he was afraid to look, honestly. Her warm breath drew closer as X came to realize what she was doing. X gripped the sheets of the bed tightly as he let out a moan in surprise and pleasure as Sephira suckled to him like a baby pig suckling its mother. Sephira kneaded her fingers around X's waist, almost clawing at his skin as she found how powerful such an act felt. She slowly snaked her way back up to look X in the eye, a more dangerous look held in her eyes as X noticed something wet hung from her lips. Like an attack, she kissed him and took of her stain underwear as she madly tried to hump him.

Realizing that she was having trouble from her current position, X rolled them over so he was on top and moved them forward so they were completely on the bed. Slowly and carefully, X started to hump Sephira- the pleasure from going slow made her moan and hold onto the sheets hard enough to make the threads threaten to rip off right then and there. X looked down at Sephira and leaned forward so he could give her a passionate kiss. Whatever had been on her lips had made the kisses more addicting- as he softly humped her, Sephira held onto his neck so they would be locked in their embrace forever. X smiled as Sephira let out another moan of pleasure.

Please Lord, don't let this be the last time...

. . .

Humans had their limitations of course. X softly stroked and kissed Sephira's cool skin as she slept in bliss. He'd wait for her to wake up, and maybe they would do it again. Maybe not though- humans had bodily limitations that Reploids did not have, and unfortunately for X he was a Reploid and Sephira was only human.

If only...

X wrapped his arm around Sephira's waist and gave her sleeping body a close hug. X could hear Sephira give a satisfied smile as she turned over to be facing him. Her contented face made X's head feel light and dizzy. It was almost like a fear, and maybe he was afraid- he was afraid that he could have hurt her, afraid that he may have ruined her chance to have human children if she choose to have a human spouse some day after him.

_No_, X decided as he held her closer and gave her a kiss on the forehead, _She is mine and we'll always be together. No one will separate us- I would rather die than be without her. I would die for her if I needed to. Nothing, no one, will keep us apart. Ever._


	21. Sweet Nothing

X softly woke up the next morning with Sephira out of bed. In a panic, X put back on his underwear and pants and tried to meet her at the door.

"Where are you going?" X asked as Sephira started to put her shoes on.

"Work." she said simply enough. "I'll be back in nine hours."

"Don't go, I still need you." X told her as he ran closer to her, then gently placed his hands on her face, keeping her eyes trained on his. Quickly, he pulled her into a needy and lustful kiss. Sephira closed her eyes as she lost all sense of where she was going and what she was going to do- although a part of her wanted to stay, she knew she had to go to work.

"No..." Sephira said softly as she tried to peel him away, "I need to work."

X did not let go of Sephira although they were no longer in their embrace.

"My work number is on the notepad, call if the house is on fire- and nothing else. Understand me?"

X stared into her eyes, and he would not move. Sephira frowned.

"We can't keep this up if we're going to act like this. If I didn't have to leave, I wouldn't. Go do your thing, and I can do mine. We're still two different beings- sharing a bed shouldn't take that away."

X nodded slowly, but pulled Sephira in for one last kiss.

"I'll be right here when you come back." X promised.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Sephira told him with a loving look before going out the door.

. . .

"I see you slept well last night?" Dr Weil asked as Sephira went about the room in a different gait than normal.

"What makes you ask that sir?" Sephira asked curiously as she handed to scientist a beaker.

"To be honest, I haven't seen you this lively since you first told me you met that Reploid friend of yours. What was his name again?"

"Roch."

"Oh yes, that's right. His name in French means 'rock,' I remember now."

Dr Weil looked at Sephira as she went around expressing a type of OCD that he didn't even know she had. That was when the idea came to him.

"Seph, did you have... relations with your Reploid friend last night?"

For awhile, Sephira didn't answer- entertaining to herself on how she was going to respond. Dr Weil was not amused by this silence, quite naturally it made him feel more at edge.

"Aero Lillian Sephira, tell me you didn't have sex with a Reploid!" Dr Weil demanded. Sephira looked at Dr Weil with stars in her eyes.

"But that would be a lie sir."

Dr Weil rushed to Sephira and held her shoulders roughly.

"Do you have any idea what people are going to do to you when they find out?" Dr Weil asked her sternly. Sephira shrugged him off.

"Do you have an idea how many people have mass produced Reploids for their own erotic sexual desires?" Sephira said back. "Roch isn't built like that, he's... he's _different_."

"Just because you're in the honeymoon stage of a relationship, it doesn't mean you know everything about him." Dr Weil told her sternly.

"I know." Sephira agreed. "But it's something I find so... alluring about him."

Dr Weil sighed heavily and looked at Sephira.

"Reploids in general have a certain allure about them Seph, psychologists have been trying to figure out why for the past four years. But by common norm of our society today, I am going to admit that I don't approve of what you're doing."

"And you don't have to." Sephira told him before getting back to work. "What we do in bed in between us and the Lord."

For a moment, Dr Weil did not respond to this- but the idea did not leave his mind.

"How does he... satisfy you?" Dr Weil asked, now feeling rather curious. "He isn't able to produce-"

"He can not." Sephira said quickly. "I... I don't know how he does it, really. He also doesn't have any blood, so it's just to show gender I suppose. It's effective, whatever the hell it is or how it works."

Dr Weil opened his mouth to place an opinion, but closed it figuring the conversation was going to grow awkward no matter how it went, and without another word they both went back to work.

. . .

"Our reports have turned up negative Commander Sigma." a Reploid told Sigma. The Maverick grimaced.

"Then work harder!" Sigma barked, "I want every stone turned and no Maverick to rest until X has been found. X has had long enough for time off, it's time he show himself to the world again!"

"Yes Commander Sigma, sir!" the Reploid said before running off. Sigma took a step back and thought the situation over.

"I'll find you X," Sigma said to no one in particular, "And when I find you, whatever _life_ you had will be destroyed... then you will face me again, and I will not lose!"


	22. Pinpoint

"Unko, Axl, we have readings indicating a rather powerful Maverick nearby- be safe!"

"Thanks Alia, we'll keep an eye out."

Not that she would admit it, but Alia found that being able to call Zero or Axl on the fly before they were about to get hit by an enemy was rather fun. It was amusing to hear them so irritated when she called them, and then by the time they got back to base they had forgotten the conversation so she had mostly gotten away with it.

"Hey Alia," Axl finally said over the headset, "You're supposed to give us hints and stuff, right? How 'bout instead of teasing us and pointing out the obvious, you can tell us when you guys actually pinpoint X's location?"

"But that would take the fun out of it." Alia claimed with a smile.

. . .

"Commander Sigma, we've located X!"

"Wonderful." Sigma said, a certain sense of glee filling inside of him. "Send out a scout to spy on him- to watch his every move, to learn his daily patterns, to see the world as he sees and who he interacts with. We will attack when we find an opening."

"Yes sir Commander Sigma."

The corners of Sigma's mouth curled into a rather sinister smirk. X had been hidden for this long- but even advanced robots make mistakes. The thought of seeing how X was doing gave Sigma a very distinctive pit in his stomach that the Maverick couldn't shake off no matter how hard he tried. It was a weird feeling- it was a good feeling.

"You can run X," Sigma said, "But the war has finally begun..."

. . .

The rain pattered on the window at a steady pace as X held Sephira close. They laid on her bed attempting to sleep but thoughts of desired romantic embraces stopped them. Almost absentmindedly, X gently rubbed Sephira's lower abdomen as if he knew there was a little seed of life inside of her. There wasn't, and Sephira picked up on this.

"What are you doing?" she asked him softly as she tried to look at him.

"Nothing." he claimed.

"Do you know something I do not?"

"I hope not."

With a smirk, Sephira sat up, holding X's hand and wrapped it around her neck effectively only giving them a few precious inches from getting lured into a kiss.

"You're thinking of something." Sephira told him, using a rather alluring tone on purpose. "Tell me."

X softly smiled, and only used his hand to gently trace the curves of her body. The action sent a shiver up the human woman's spine, but she did not give in. Knowing full well that she wasn't going to give in, X slowly ceased touching her to speak his fear.

"I'm afraid." X told her.

"Of what?" she asked, pulling away just a little bit- although it had been with curiosity, not disgust.

"What if..." X started to say, but unsure of how to finish. Sephira looked at him curiously, patiently waiting for him to finish. "What if we were... expecting?"

Sephira looked at X with a conflicted face.

"Do you know something I do not?" X asked her, seeing her face and realizing that it scared him.

"I..." Sephira started to admit, choosing her words carefully, "Am on so many rounds of birth control that I have a period once a year- if I have one."

X gave Sephira a bewildered look, and she explained some more.

"I was raped when I was about sixteen or so, and I got so paranoid after. I was so paranoid that I... I ended up losing a child." Sephira refused to look at X as her eyes glazed over. "I never wanted to go any where after that. Dr Weil... he kind of just appeared when I needed him- he's like a father for me now because he was there, and he helped me slowly recover. Now..."

"What if we could?" X asked her, taking a firm hold of her hand. Sephira let out a uneasy chuckle.

"You know we can't do that, you're more sterile than-"

"Pretend if we could." X said. "Even if we lost it- would you have a child with me?"

Sephira looked at him as her glossed eyes started to produce tears. Her head shook as her heart sank. X understood though and placed his forehead on hers.

"I'll protect you." X promised her. "But I want you to do something for me; never call me Roch again. My name is X- just... just call me X. Alright?"

Sephira gave a small smile.

"I like that better." she declared in a small voice.

. . .

Sigma sneered at the scene as it displayed in real time from his scout. So X's life was all perfect and lovey-dovey now after a few months worth of vacation? Surely, X is powerful not only on the battlefield but in the bedroom as well. How... interesting...

Sigma's body started to clench tightly in some emotion he never wanted to acknowledge or show. Everything X had, everything that the fucking little Reploid held dear, was going to be Sigma's one way or another. And Sigma was going to die trying to get what he wanted.


	23. Tracked to a Fault

Alia looked over the information sent to her with a rather horrible pit in her stomach. Quickly, Alia tried to contact Zero and Axl.

"Hey Unko, are you there?" Alia asked timidly as she read the information over and over.

"I'm here Alia, what's wrong?"

"Did you know that all Maverick Hunters have their own bank accounts?"

"Yes." Zero agreed in a flat tone. "They're a safeguard more than anything- to give our loved ones something when we get into a state of beyond repair, or to pay for our repairs and ceremonies if we do not have loved ones."

"Did you know that the Maverick Hunters are in charge of these bank accounts at any time?" Alia then asked. "Even making withdraws although they are not actively serving?"

"Yes. Is there something you're trying to tell me Alia, or are you trying to harass us again?"

"'I'm not harassing this time, promise!" Alia told him, sounding more worried than ever. "There has been some activity in X's account, and all the purchases are in the same general location. Is it possible that Sigma could also see this information and use it to track X?"

There was a still silence on the other end.

"U- Unko...?" Alia asked into the headset, feeling afraid of Zero's likely tranquil fury and poor Axl who was witnessing it first hand. Finally, Zero responded with a single word in a still and haunting manner;

"Fuck."

. . .

It was funny, Sephira was told by her grandmother that her father used to work on that same patch of dirt while her mother sat and taunted him as he worked. Here X was, working on that patch of dirt with a graciousness that you could feel through a photograph and she was inside drinking crappy self-made tea. The rainclouds from earlier still lingered in the sky a bit as the sun cast a pink glow in the sky- it made Sephira appreciate how wondrous X was all the more.

_He was hers._

The idea just seemed to make her body tingle with glee.

_She was his._

Sephira took a sip of her crap tea and smiled at X as he looked up at her to give her a warm smile.

_To love and to hold, for as long as you both shall live..._

The idea that a human could go through a 'Mega' transformation always blew her mind when her grandmother used to tell her about that story: it was what made her fear robots and what she found so cool about them. Unfortunately, the only ones that knew about that process was Thomas Hikari and Roll- both of whom were long gone by now. Some part of her wished it could still happen, then she and X could be together forever...

X came inside not long after and greeted her with a kiss.

"I'm going to wash up and go into town for a little." he told her. Sephira looked at curiously.

"Why?" she asked. "It's going to be dark soon, and I thought we were sharing sheets again."

X smiled at her calmly and held his finger under her chin.

"It's something for tomorrow." X told her. Sephira raised a flirty little eyebrow.

"Oh really?" she said with interest before taking a sip of her tea. "When do you plan on getting back, then?"

"Late." X told her, his smile turning into a frown. Sephira took a sip of tea with a distressed look- not that it was such a big deal, but damn, a night not together...

"Alright." Sephira agreed. "I can't stop you really. Just... wake me up when you get home. Okay?"

"I won't be that long." X told her, kissing her a short kiss. Sephira looked up at him worried. Something didn't feel right, but she couldn't place her finger on it and the idea was scaring her.

She had all right to really, when someone was spying on them from the backside of the house.

Sigma had found and hired Vile to retrieve Sephira- X going out just made things more easier. Vile snickered knowing that X wasn't wearing his armor any more. His lady friend wasn't that bad looking either, but Vile didn't see the point when she was only human. That beauty would some day die, it would get ugly with a simple nip and tuck, why choose a human at all? Vile didn't care really, he just found it kind of ironic. X was completely weaponless, his girl looked too weak to even know how to use a weapon, and the house likely wasn't going to be locked right away- the only thing stopping Vile from taking X's girl right then and there was Sigma's orders. Not that Vile was planning to follow them completely through any way...

Vile snuck into the house when Sephira disappeared into the bathroom to change. She went into the bedroom with her pajamas on and was greeted to Vile sitting on the bed, obviously waiting for her. Sephira opened her mouth but Vile rushed to cover her mouth before she could let out any noise.

"Don't scream," he hissed in her ear, "Sigma wanted you alive."

* * *

><p><strong>Hello lovely readers! Help decide the view-point order for Chapters 27-29! Visit my page to vote on the poll, and as always, thank you for reading!<strong>


	24. Fury oh Tranquil Fury

Zero and Axl rushed to the address Alia had sent to them without haste. They made it to the door of the assigned address as the door swung open without any guidance. For a moment, Zero and Axl looked at the distressed looking man that had opened the door.

"Zero?"

"X...?"

In a moment that completely confused Axl; Zero and X gave each other a hug then gave each other a good look over.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Zero asked as he got a good look of what X had on. Admittedly, they were hand-me-downs found in a box from the crawlspace, but the other conditions of why they were in X's possession wasn't something he wanted to discuss with Zero at the moment.

"Where's your armor?" Zero then asked, "You're gonna need it."

X frowned.

"I don't have it any more, I need your help."

"What do you mean 'you don't have it anymore'?" Zero asked with much anger. "You were supposed to keep that armor in case we needed you back!"

X looked at Zero with a sense of guilt, but that was when X finally noticed Axl.

"Who's that?" X asked, diverting attention away from the situation Zero wanted to address.

"Hi, I'm Axl." the young Reploid said eagerly enough, giving X a hearty handshake, "I'm a hybrid!"

"Hybrid..." X said warily. Zero knew what X was doing, and he was not happy about it whatsoever.

"Axl," Zero said to the young Reploid sharply, "Report to HQ and tell them we found X."

Axl nodded and went around the corner to make the call in private- effectively leaving X and Zero alone.

"Why did you get rid of your armor, X?" Zero demanded. "Sigma is back and he sure as hell isn't going to take it easy on you!"

"Sigma's back?!" X exclaimed with well placed surprise. "How? I thought we destroyed every-"

"We did." Zero agreed. "But some retard decided to piece Humpty Dumpty back together again, and now we're stuck with a Maverick that doesn't know when to stop. Haven't you heard about -or hell, even seen- the Maverick attacks on Abel City?"

"No..." X sheepishly admitted. Zero gave X a look of disbelief.

"What have you been doing this entire time if you don't even know what's going on outside the front door?" Zero asked. "Have you been sleeping or something for the past two months?"

Well...

"Zero, I can't get through to HQ or Alia." Axl said as he came back around. Zero looked at Axl with a look that could have killed- it almost appeared it did by the way Axl flinched.

"Who's Alia?" X asked, hoping to change the subject again.

"By terms of software, your sister." Zero told him flatly before he tried to contact HQ.

"My _what_?!" X asked again, possibly even more surprised than what he was earlier. With it being said out loud, even Axl looked a bit surprised.

"Well I don't see a resemblance at all." Axl said after giving X a passing look.

"When software is involved, it doesn't matter." X told the young Reploid soundly.

"Damn it, I can't get through either." Zero said as he came back over. "Something must have happened over at HQ- I wonder why Alia didn't try to signal us though..."

"Maybe it was an ambush that no one saw coming?" Axl input.

"Alia would have caught on quickly- you know as well as I do how fast she is when it comes to communication."

"Maybe she left the position long enough for someone to take her then storm HQ?" X asked. Zero shook his head.

"Alia wouldn't just up and leave, someone or something must have made her leave if that were the case. Regardless, we need to head back to HQ to see what is going on- _and_ get your armor back."

"Under one condition." X told Zero.

"And what's that?" Zero asked, somehow knowing that he wasn't going to like the answer.

"The homeowner of this house was kidnapped earlier, we need to find her. She's... very important."

"Didn't Alia mention that Vile was in the area the last time we talked to her?" Axl asked. Zero looked at X with a calculating glare that made X feel rather uncomfortable.

"What business did this homeowner have with Sigma?" Zero asked X coldly.

"Nothing!" X declared, his eyes wide with fear. Zero only continued to glare at X. Axl backed away, sensing that the air was growing tense between the two Reploids.

"You fucked a human." Zero then said, sounding as blunt as he looked peeved. "Now Sigma can control the living _fuck_ out of you- do you have _any_ idea what you've done?!"

"Zero..."

"Shut it! It would have been one thing if you slept with a Reploid -we can rebuilt ourselves- but a _fucking human_, X?! 'You only live once' isn't just a reckless human phrase you asshole! We are going to HQ to get your fucking armor so you can save your _slut_ from a power hungry Maverick; then, oh hell yes then, I'm going to murder the living _fuck_ out of you for sleeping with a human!"

Axl was over a foot away from the situation, fearing that intervening was likely going to bring Zero's tranquil fury and precision f-strikes upon him too- which was terrifying enough already. X did not say anything back and only looked at the ground to avoid Zero's gaze. Never had he been so grateful that looks couldn't kill...

* * *

><p><strong>Hello lovely readers! Help decide the view-point order for Chapters 27-29! Visit my page to vote on the poll, and as always, thank you for reading!<strong>


	25. Same Idea, Different Name

"Let me go!" Alia demanded to Sigma, who had ordered not long ago to have her hands cuffed so she couldn't hurt him. Not that she could- but it was discouraging regardless.

"As much as the idea interests me, I had made arrangements that prevent me otherwise."

Alia raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sure you've heard the rumors of why I've come back." Sigma then droned to her.

"I've heard some things." Alia agreed warily.

"Then let's just say the reason of why you're here, and why I can't let you go, is because of an agreement made with the one that bestowed life unto me once more." Sigma sneered.

"I don't know anyone who would be that desperate to bring you back just to get my attention." Alia declared.

"But Alia, I gave you everything you ever asked for- why did you leave me?" a familiar voice said as they came through the door of the prison. Alia's stomach lurched in fear as she looked to see a face she had nearly hoped to never see again.

"Gate...?!"

"You've grown quite a bit since I last saw you..." Gate said as he walked closer to Alia to get a better look at her. With minimal acknowledgment, Sigma left so that Gate and Alia were alone. For a long time, the two only stared at each other.

"You have grown rather well- you must have learned a lot since you left." Gate finally said. "I hope that you learned something worthwhile..."

"Why did you bring Sigma back?" Alia quickly blurted. Gate gave her a cold stare- but it wasn't the answer Alia wanted. "If all you wanted was me back with you- why did you bring Sigma back?"

Gate looked at her for several minutes before answering.

"What I wanted after you left wasn't just your safe arrival..." Gate then said in a low and dangerous tone. "No, not after Nana left over how we handled letting that... indigent in. How he took you away from me..."

"Axl didn't make me leave- he gave me the idea, but he didn't make me leave." Alia told Gate, but the older Reploid appeared to not be listening.

"Trying to piece you together- to figure out why you could grow and age, it made me realize something: the ultimate system lies within a black box. But I am incapable of receiving the ultimate black box, so I found a way to bring Sigma back. Now, with you and I together, we will decode it and we can be a happy family again..."

"I'm not going back." Alia told Gate. "I like being a Navigator for the Maverick Hunters- I have friends now. I have my own life now. I'm not going to give that up just to help you decode bits and bytes."

"I never asked for your opinion..." Gate told her with no tone in his voice. A cold chill ran up Alia's spine as Gate got something out of the inside of his coat and she realized what he planned on doing to her in the process.

He was going to take her memories away.

. . .

Sigma casually walked to the room where he had told Vile to hold Sephira. Without knocking, Sigma opened the door to see a pajama clad Sephira as she stood in the middle of the room- her feet were planted to the ground with a special flooring that only effected humans and their ability to move their legs.

"Good evening Aero." Sigma said softly as he closed the door behind him. The young woman looked at Sigma with a rather hard glare.

"Let me go!" she demanded as she tried to move from her spot. Sigma only laughed at her as he walked closer to her. Sephira tried desperately to move as Sigma walked behind her.

"What a precious thing you are," Sigma hissed in her ear, "No wonder X likes you so much."

Sigma softly placed his hands around the lower area of Sephira's torso.

"Now it is my turn to experience this love..." he said as he slowly started to navigate his fingers lower down her body and closer to the only other entry point into her female body.

"You don't love," Sephira said as she shook her head in horror as his fingers went beneath her underwear, "You deleted the idea from your data years ago because you thought it was obsolete- you _thought _you didn't need it. But now you want to love, and you have no idea how because you got rid of the data the gives you the very notion! Jealousy reigns in your circuits, and you think it's some kind of... retribution or answer, but it's not! It's corrupting you- it's causing you to be Maverick!"

"Amazing deduction," Sigma said in her ear as he carefully tracked his fingers back up her body, "But... familiar. Was that something Thomas Hikari once wrote of?"

"Roll wrote it." Sephira said darkly as Sigma snaked his arms around her- to which she tried to shake him off. "Thomas Hikari stuck his name on it, but all of it was Roll's theory. She was only a housebot so Hikari could shut her up! Roll was an amazing hacker and robotist that everyone doubted, and _still_ do because Thomas Hikari and Albert Wiley screwed up her life and made her seem insignificant for their time- but without her we wouldn't even have Reploids right now. _Hell_, we may not even have a world to live in right now if Roll didn't intervene with what Hikari had originally planned for X!"

Sigma moved around to stare at Sephira eye-to-eye, giving her a sneer that only detailed rather horrifying acts. He then turned his back to her to get something from a pedestal near the door. He turned to face her again with something that looked as if it were designed to cover her mouth.

"You are right- I did delete my ability to love," Sigma said slowly as he walked toward her, "Believing it at the time useless, but I can still feel it with this marvelous machine- I can re-download it with this machine. I just need a being that can love..."

Sephira's eyes grew wide with fear as she tried desperately to move from her spot.

"Every thought..." Sigma said in a far off tone of voice, "Every emotion... every memory... every touch... every time you lusted and craved his body..."

"No!" Sephira shouted as she ended up falling over. "No you can't!"

"_Karru Marri Odonna Loma Molonu Karrano_..." Sigma said as he got down on top of her to place the mask on her face, "My source of being is you Aero- and soon, the feelings will be likewise..."

Sephira let out a muffled scream as Sigma tightened the mask around her mouth and her consciousness started to slip into a pitch black nothing.


	26. The Path Travelled

"There are three different paths we can take," Zero instructed Axl and X as they looked over a map of Sigma's fortress. "All of them lead to Sigma, but only one goes directly-"

"I want the path that goes straight to Sigma." X said, perfectly interrupting Zero who in turn gave X a rather cold stare.

"Fine." Zero agreed. "It's not like I can stop you any way. That just leads two alternate paths; one goes to a Reploid scientist named Gate, and the other goes to the head of Reploid Police Force, Colonel."

"I'm not going near the head Pfft." Axl said, raising his hands in the air for innocence. "Besides, I've met Gate and, um, well, he _might_ want to see me any way."

"Alright then." Zero agreed. "That only leaves me and Colonel. I do not know how long it will take us all to reach Sigma, but when we get close we'll regroup and take in on together."

Zero then turned to look at X.

"What?" X asked as he felt like he was being accused of something.

"If you let your pants do the talking before Axl or I get there, so help me God, X, I will make you _wish_ you could die."

"I'll wait." X told Zero. "I promise."

Zero did not refrain from his cold look.

"Let's get going then." Zero told them.

. . .

Sigma admired the handiwork of how well the mind control device held a hold on Sephira's mind. Of all places for a mind control device to be strapped to, you wouldn't imagine that the mouth would be a very logical place- and yet, it was proving to be most effective.

"Show me a time of pleasure." Sigma demanded with a still tone. Sephira's body twitched; a sign that the mind control device was making her remember a past event and forcing it into the device for Sigma to see. Sigma placed his hand on the mask and closed his eyes with a surprised moan.

"_X..." she said breathlessly as her body lost control, no longer able to hold back the natural reaction of intercourse. The strain to give this much pleasure could nearly override how it was really hurting her- somehow it was a vague reminder of past regrets..._

Sigma forced himself to take his hand off of the mask for a moment to catch his breath. Her memories of sexual activities were addicting, but they always came back to the same regret that nearly ruined the euphoria for them. She found a way around this regret- but it ruined everything for Sigma.

"Deeper." Sigma said to her with little emotion. "Not all your memories are of him..."

Sephira's corpse twitched as the machine around her mouth changed memories. Sigma placed his hand on the mask again and nearly flinched at what he saw.

"_A- Auntie...? Why... why isn't Mommy and Poppa waking up? What... what did you do to them Auntie..?!"_

"_Lilly..." her aunt started to say, dried blood faintly traced the lines in her fingertips, "Lilly Seph... I... you... Some times, certain people just need a little... help passing on..."_

"_Auntie...!?"_

Sigma forced himself to pull away again- this time he shook his head.

"Do you have any _normal_ memories?" Sigma asked the corpse in respite. In a response that was neither voluntary nor directed by Sigma; Sephira's corpse let out a tiny little snort as if saying 'no one is normal you moron' and the gesture made Sigma growl.

Almost- the mind control was almost effective.

. . .

"No... no! I won't let you!"

She wouldn't let him take her memories away. Five days after leaving home she was playing the homeless man's guitar to make enough money to buy clothes and to get the man some food. Three weeks she spent with Axl as they tried to hide from the Reploid Police Force. It only took a day for them to meet Zero and get enrolled with the Maverick Hunters. It was almost a month before she thought she had heard Nana in the Maverick Hunter HQ and went to go see, but was attacked by a Maverick as others started to storm HQ. She fought the Maverick that captured her as well as she could -she had to warn Zero and Axl so they could come help- but the Maverick held the upper hand in that battle and she lost. The Maverick Hunter HQ fell as Mavericks skewered several Reploids and took a few lucky ones hostage.

"I will delete your memories even if it hurts you!" Gate screamed inside her head as he tried to get rid of her memories. She wouldn't let him, she wasn't going to let him. Who are you if you don't have your memories?

"No... no, please..."

He was in her mind, almost literally, as he tried to get her memories out. But she was guarding them with all the power it took within her, and they kept wiggling out of Gate's grasp like they were wisps of smoke.

"I will...!" Gate started to say as Alia let one memory get in his grasp. At first, Gate started to laugh when he thought she was starting to let go- but when he actually saw the memory, Gate was thrown off guard.

_It was hard to believe that Alia had been so tiny five years ago. She was hardly higher than his waist- and it seemed to make her more susceptible to being lost. She had also been rather light on her feet- a skill that rarely any human child was capable of at that mental stage._

"_What is a meh-more-ree?" Alia asked after coming up to him from no where. She scared the living daylights out of him and nearly made him mess up his experiment. Gate looked down at little Alia and quickly wondered how he was going to answer her._

"_Memories are like bits of data we obtain after we do something; like learning, or talking, or doing. This conversation right now, in fact, will someday be a memory for both of us when the future has become the present and today has become yesterday. Humans have a rather interesting knack of remembering things that aren't very important, but forget the things that are. We Reploids, however, are able to remember everything, so we have a lot of memories that become stored in our data banks."_

_Little Alia blinked at him as she mulled the idea over. Gate watched her with interest as he thought of ways about how her circuited brain worked._

"_Can someone take your meh-more-ree away?" Alia asked, looking up at Gate with her infamous blue eyes with wonder and hidden horror._

"_Humans can make themselves forget a memory, but we Reploids have to have some else do it."_

"_Will someone ever take my memory away?"_

"_Not without your permission, I hope."_

_The young Reploid looked up at Gate in a way that he know understood could have been a moment of precognition as she said to him in a small tone,_

"_I told you, I will _not _let them go."_


	27. Paralyzed

Axl progressed through the path that led to Gate quite nicely. It wasn't easy, but it was getting done. He wasn't quite sure why there were spikes everywhere, but it was better to not ask questions at this point and keep to the matter at hand: Get through Gate to go to Sigma. Simple.

Except for that one little detail that nagged at the back of Axl's mind.

Alia...

In all said and done, he was sure she was fine. But that didn't stop a part of him from nearly freaking out that there was still the possibility she wasn't. It made Axl think about the idea of what Sigma could possibility want with Alia to begin with. Alia wasn't built for combat- Mrs Bonne has made Alia's suit for defensive use more than offensive- and even if Alia could protect herself, Axl had reasons to believe that she wouldn't follow through for a finishing blow. Not that it was a bad thing- but it certainly wasn't very good either.

Axl thought of Alia as he waited for the door to open completely before entering the room. There, standing in the center in a still and quiet manner was Alia.

"Alia?" Axl asked as he rushed to her side. Alia only stood straight ahead, her eyes were vacant and lifeless.

"H-hey..." Alia said with a tone of voice that was as lifeless as her eyes, "Hey y-you..."

"Alia, I'm here." Axl said, shaking her shoulders a little, taking a moment to perfectly hate that she was taller than him. "Snap out of it!"

"Wh-what are y-you doing... She... she doesn't like... like it wh-when..."

"A quick question for you; what happens when you take a black box and make it so readable that hidden information just comes pouring out- almost like a raging river, thawing from its winter slumber..."

Axl turned to see Gate approach them. Without a doubt in his mind, Axl knew that Gate had done whatever was making Alia go all BSOD to the world around her. The idea, and seeing Gate there as if nothing was wrong, made Axl angry.

"She's not a toy!" Axl spat in a tone of voice that he could not control. "You're treating her like she's some kind of experiment- a tool for you to poke and tease at: Alia is more human that you are- than we Reploids are in whole! Why would you break that part of her just to... to satisfy your fetish?"

Gate gave Axl a rather demonic look, but said nothing.

"You've known Alia longer than I have," Axl then said, "You know better than I do that she can't just be replaced with the plans we have on hand for the Reploids we have now. Alia is able to grow because it's all in her mind to do so- her skin is some kind of elastic thing that can't be easily replaced too. Did you ever notice that? Please tell me you know that if something in Alia's mind goes horribly wrong because you're poking and prodding at it like a molecule, there's no way for us to get that back. She would be gone... forever!"

"Do you love her?" Gate asked Axl, giving the young Reploid a rather menacing glare.

"What?!" Axl asked as if Gate was crazier than what he already was. "I consider Alia as my friend, maybe even sister. Is that what you mean?"

"Would you die for her?" Gate asked in a low tone. Axl looked at Gate to see if he was serious- and the older Reploid was not showing signs of joking around, in fact he was being rather stoic at the moment.

"Yes!" Axl wildly decided. "Alia is my friend, not only that but she isn't built like X or Zero, or you or I. She's special because she's different- she is, because of all the things she isn't. They can rebuild me, but we can't say the same about her."

"Then prepare to die..." Gate growled as he drew his weapon. Axl jumped back in surprise as he pulled out his twin plasma guns. Gate had reacted first, and shot Axl before the young Reploid could even give a thought.

"Either you're crazy or Maverick." Axl decided as he took aim, "But when you hurt your own you've gone too far!"

Gate said nothing as his face became devoid of emotion. Axl did not hesitate in the pulling the trigger and used every shot carefully. Gate was more methodical, but he was being blinded by rage and would occasionally miss. Every miss became an open blind spot for Axl to manipulate, and soon Gate fell to the ground in defeat.

"Take... take care of her." Gate mumbled as critical damage made his system fail rapidly. "You are right... Don't... don't ever let her die..."

"After I told you she's like a sister to me?" Axl asked with a light chuckle. "What makes you think I'm gonna slack off?"

Gate looked at Axl and, for the first time, he gave him a small smile.

"Thank you... indigent."

Quietly, Gate died in peace. Axl looked at him for a little before realizing that Alia was still in the room. Axl spun around to find Alia, who had fallen down during the battle and was now hugging her knees as her eyes looked more vacant than ever... if that was even possible. Axl rushed over to her and bent down so he could be at eye level to her. Secretly, he wondered if she had heard Gate's last conversation or if she had seen him die.

"Alia... can you hear me?" Axl asked, carefully cradling her in his arms. With a horrifying feeling, Axl slowly came to realize that he had never cared for someone this much- not even Vile, who never really cared any way. Seeing Alia stare straight forward, with no reflection in her eye or any sign of emotion, made Axl fear for the one thing he never had: a friend.

"C-come back..." Alia slowly started to stutter, "L-Landiao, or... who-whoever you a-are... Y-you're s-still our... our f-friend..."

"Alia, it's me Axl." Axl said, gently shaking her in hope to wake her up from whatever trance she was in. It was useless, however. Her eyes started to glisten and gloss over with tears.

"Wh-whistle the s-song again P-Proto Man... I... I like it so... so much... y-you, a-and I, and Me-Mega- t-together... I-it makes m-me smile..."

Helpless, Axl looked at Alia as she seemingly spoke like her systems were failing. The idea made Axl feel even worse- failing Gate's last request without even trying or meaning to.

"Whistle the song." Axl requested quietly. "I... I haven't heard it in awhile."

To this, Alia seemed to comply to; she closed her eyes and she started to whistle a song that was deeply and secretly encoded within her data. Axl listened closely, then started to cry.


	28. Never Let Me Down

As Zero closed in on where Colonel was located, there was a sense of lingering fear and gloom. Something about this area seemed rather familiar- had he been here before?

Zero waited for the door to open that led into the room Colonel was supposed to be in. To his surprise, instead of seeing Colonel, Zero saw Iris instead. She stood facing away from him in the opposite corner of the room. Iris didn't react to his arrival and remained where she was.

"Who is the betrayer, and who's the killer in the crowd?" Iris said, almost to herself as Zero walked closer to her. "It's the one that creeps through corridors and doesn't make a sound..."

Iris then turned to look at Zero.

"I've been waiting for you Zero." she said in a low tone.

"Iris?" Zero asked, feeling rather numb about seeing her in a place like this. "What are you doing here? Where's Colonel?"

"If this is to be my last confession Zero, I want you to know that 'I love you' never felt like any blessing. We whispered it like a secret, but all it did was condemn the one who heard it with such a heavy heart..."

"What do you mean?" Zero asked curiously. Iris gave him a rather blank stare.

"Reploid twins are like parasites to each other, one can't live without the other or some rather... odd implications take fold."

"I don't follow."

"You don't understand how the Model Number system works, do you?" Iris asked quietly. "When two Reploids share the same basic model number, they are like twins that can never separate. If one Reploid needs a part repaired, then the 'twin' has to come and donate their parts so the other can be fixed. Colonel, he... They tried to fix him, but I didn't have the right parts... so I... I..."

Zero looked at Iris as she hung her head- not in shame or disgust, but... maybe... with pride.

"They say that, albeit rarely, human children can absorb their twin while in their mother's womb- they also say we Reploids are very close to human-like behaviors and attributes..."

"Iris," Zero started to say, choosing his words carefully, "What are you getting at?"

Iris looked up at Zero with an odd smile that made the red Reploid become rather uncomfortable.

"All of his drives, every memory, the abilities he had..." Iris started to say in a tone that nearly sent a chill up Zero's spine.

"Iris, where is Colonel's DNA?"

Iris looked at Zero and laughed.

"Iris, this is serious!" Zero told her, "Where is Colonel's DNA?"

"I have it." Iris said in a pleased tone. "It's all mine. The power... the strength... the potential..."

"All of which would be rendered useless to someone that doesn't know how to use it!"

Upon hearing this, Iris started to give Zero a rather cold glare.

"Do you love me?" she asked darkly.

"What...?" Zero asked, almost surprised by such a question. Iris only glared at him, not daring the elaborate further if he wasn't going to give her a straight answer.

"Would you die for me?" Iris then asked. Zero looked at her, still unsure of what she was trying to accomplish. But then again, he had never really thought about it before: did he love her enough to lay down his own life for her, even if it would be temporary? His lack of answer made Iris turn away with a hint of disgust and remorse.

"Then prepare to die..." she said as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Zero said nothing as he pulled out the Z-saber. Iris started to glow a sickening red color as she drew the power from Colonel's DNA and started to rise above the ground. But whatever she wanted to accomplish in doing so proved to be too much, and she overloaded a vital circuit. With a gasp of surprise and pain, Iris fell to the ground in a heap. Zero gave a look of sickening horror as he rushed to her side- her life force was starting to fade away and her systems were starting to shut down from the overload. Iris looked at Zero with a pained smile when he was next to her.

"You never loved me, did you? Not... not like her..."

"Who?" Zero asked.

"That girl, that human girl you came to save. You like her, you like her more than you like me."

"The human girl?" Zero asked, putting in an effort to scoff a little. "That woman is X's problem, and I do not plan on getting to know her in any way. I don't know who told you that, but know Iris that they were dead wrong- I know how bloody _moronic_ it is for a Reploid (let alone Maverick Hunter) to settle with a human. I didn't even know you were here. I thought that..."

"You _assumed_ I was safe." Iris told him. "You've assumed a lot of things about me- but you never assumed or considered how much I really needed you. How much Colonel needed you... Then you came too late... you came to kill him..."

"Iris, I'm sorry." Zero told her, putting a comforting hand on her cheek. Iris gave a small smile.

"You always will be, but does it change anything?"

Zero did not answer her. Iris looked at him sadly as she moved her hand to get something behind him- when he finally realized what it was, there was no stopping what Iris did next.

"Good bye Zero." Iris said as she stabbed herself with his Z-saber. She stabbed herself in such a way that destroyed every chip needed to bring her back, and the only way Zero could react was in shock, surprise, and horror as he watched her destroy herself.

The Z-saber rolled to the ground as the hand that held it went limp. Zero only stared and remained where he was in mourning.


	29. Now You're Mine

X hated his armor.

He didn't want his armor. Zero had made sure that it had all of his copy chips from the Mavericks he once defeated so long ago. The copy chips had the weapon codes of the Mavericks so X could use them in battle for his own benefit. He didn't use a single one- almost like a silent defiance to Zero. In truth, X didn't feel like using the Mega Buster. If he didn't need to use it to get to Sigma, he wasn't going to.

X reached the door that led to Sigma and waited for it to go up completely before ending the room. Sigma stood near the center of the room, looking as if he had been waiting for X for some time.

"Good evening X, I see you made it here alright." Sigma asked, using a rather sarcastic and less than sympathetic tone.

X did not answer, and instead raised the Mega Buster to aim- for once, X didn't care if he had to shoot down a fellow Reploid.

"Do you love her?" Sigma asked with a sneer.

"What?" X asked, finding himself completely off guard by the question. Surely Sigma meant Sephira, right?

"Would you die for her?" Sigma then asked, looking at X as if Sigma was hearing what he wanted. X charged the Mega Buster aimed directly at Sigma with all intention to shoot.

"Where is she?" X demanded. "What did you do with Sephira?"

Sigma gave a rather satisfied smirk.

"Behold X, your precious girlfriend." Sigma declared as he moved out of the way. Sephira stepped forward from behind him, but something wasn't right. She was wearing her favorite pair of pajama pants with matching tank top -as if she was ready for bed- and there appeared to be a respirator mask covering her mouth, but otherwise she looked rather normal. But even when she looked normal, it didn't mean she was.

"You see X," Sigma went on, putting a hand on Sephira's shoulder, "That little mask you see on her is a mind control device. I have complete control over your little _pet_. I can see and feel every one of her memories; most importantly, the ones of you. How sickeningly sweet they are- I think I almost got a toothache experiencing at them."

"Let her go Sigma!" X demanded.

"Fine." Sigma said with a shrug as he snapped his fingers. Sephira jumped back as if shocked and tried to regain balance as she looked around Sigma's lair. When she saw X, she let out a muffled yelp in surprise and ran to him.

When the lovers reunited they looked each other in the eye, desiring to embrace each other with their lips- but the mask over Sephira's mouth prevented such a feat from happening, and her ability to talk.

"I'm sorry I got you into this mess." X told her, holding her closer. Sephira tried to blink her tears away from the things she wanted to say, but failed at doing so.

Sigma rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers carelessly. Sephira's body went limp in X's arms almost instantly.

"Seph?!" X said as he shook her, fearing that the mask covering her face had killed her on Sigma's command. "Sephira, wake up!"

"It's amazing really." Sigma said, "I thought she was going to overload my little mind control device when she saw you. Who knew oxytocin was that powerful?"

X was only partially listening as he looked down at Sephira's sleeping face. The thought that Sigma was able to control her like that made him furious.

"Of course, now I know why you two so close- a euphoric rush like that needs to be well exercised." Sigma continued with a snap of his fingers. Sephira's corpse slowly stood up and sleepily walked over to Sigma. "You know, since I have control over her- maybe I should just do some memory adjusting..."

"You wouldn't dare." X said horrified. Sigma smirked.

"And why not?" Sigma asked, leaning down so he could nuzzle Sephira's neck. "Humans should never have this much level of euphoric reaction in them... Someone may get hurt."

"Sigma..." Sephira moaned as Sigma kissed her neck although she had not been able to talk before. As odd as it seemed, X did not care about the minor plot hole induced from the author's crappy prewriting skills. Regardless, seeing Sigma grope her was enough to make X feel sick to his stomach.

"L-leave her alone!" X demanded as his hands clenched into fists. Sigma gave X a rather hateful glare but got off of Sephira.

"You have a choice X." Sigma told the blue Reploid. "You can either lay down your arms and destroy every ability chip you have- or I adjust our beloved's memories."

"No... please..." X begged. "Anything but..."

"The clock is ticking X." Sigma said with a smug smile as he started to touch Sephira around her hips- his hands slowly moving downward to grope her as Sephira's corpse seemed to swoon at the embrace. X looked away, unable to take it. Without looking at Sigma, X opened a compartment in his chest that revealed a panel that held the ability chips and ripped them out. Sigma ceased fondling Sephira and watched maliciously as X removed his Mega Buster and shoved it toward Sigma. The Maverick sneered and snapped his fingers to signal Sephira's corpse to return to the holding cells. X looked up to see Sephira's corpse shuffle away in a dream-like trance.

"You two really do make a nice couple. Now, prepare to die." Sigma said before he attacked X.


	30. Trust

Axl had carefully wrapped one of Alia's arms around his neck so he could guide her to the rendezvous point. Lucky enough for the both of them, there weren't many traps or creatures bent on trying to stop them during this part of the trip, so it was a rather nice breather. Not that it helped Alia snap back to the real world or anything- but for the most part, she had stopped babbling about things that didn't seem like they belonged in the situation. Oh, on the contrary, her babbling actually sounded like it _did _belong in the situation, which Axl found out was even creepier than before.

"I wasn't kidding when I said I never wanted to see your face again." a familiar voice said from above Axl. The young Reploid looked up and say Vile come down expertly from the ceiling. Axl did nothing but look at Vile as if the purple Reploid had never appeared. Alia seemed to come out of her state to look at Vile.

"B-Bass..." Alia muttered with a lazy eye roll, "You aren't that... that strong... M-Mega will... will..."

"Whoa there...!" Axl said as Alia started to slip to the ground. Vile only looked on with a little snort.

"This is the girl that Sigma wants in the cells?" Vile asked in full snark mode. "Is she even functioning? Ha!"

Axl said nothing to Vile, only giving him a cold look, then started to move forward again. Vile stopped them immediately by getting in Axl's way.

"Where do you think you're going?" Vile asked. Axl looked at Vile coldly.

"I'm not going to talk to someone who likes hiding behind a mask." Axl quietly said. "Not anymore. Other things matter- other _people_ matter."

Vile remained where he was. Alia looked back up at Vile, her face detailing one of sadness and hinted scorn.

"You... you are not alone Bass..." she said, "We could... we could all be f-friends... But no... y-you and... and your goddamned pride... it... it hurts everyone... Including you."

Vile turned to look at Alia, who in turn looked at him with vacant eyes that saw things no one else present could understand or see. Without a word, Vile carefully started to aim his shoulder cannon at Alia. In reaction, Axl stood in front of Alia and glared at Vile.

"You have to get through me before you touch her." Axl told his once trusted acquaintance. Vile faced Axl- although his face could not be seen, the air of animosity was pungent enough to qualify as a nasty glare.

"Fine." Vile said darkly as he started to fire the cannon at Axl. Axl started to reach for the twin pistols when a streak of red rushed by Vile with a blue plasma slash directed at the purple Reploid's cannon.

"God _dammit_... who..?" Vile started to say before he turned to see who had attacked him so quickly. Vile then gave his signature cackle. "Zero... should've figured. Always liked ruining my fun..."

"Leave the kids alone Vile." Zero told the purple Reploid coolly. Vile gave a rude little humph to illustrate his inner hatred for the company around him.

"Sigma is going to have your head." Vile hissed.

"As if he doesn't already." Zero retorted. "Go, before I 'accidentally' slice you in half."

With a growl, Vile left. Zero then turned to help Axl with Alia.

"What happened to her?" Zero asked as he took Alia's other arm and wrapped it around his neck. Alia looked up at him and smiled weakly.

"I... I'm fine Pro-Proto Man... honest." Alia said quietly, "I-it's just a... just a scratch..."

"Gate did something," Axl told him, "I don't know _what_ he did, but I know he did _something_."

"Are any of her systems failing; can you tell?" Zero then asked. Axl shook his head.

"I don't think so- she's been at this for twenty minutes, at least. Gate had mentioned something about black boxes and decoding them to the point where information just flows out on its own."

Zero nodded in understanding.

"She'll be fine for now; But where's X?" Zero then asked. Axl shrugged.

"I haven't seen him." Axl said. Zero's face then formed a scowl.

"If I found out that that jerkass is-" Zero started to say, but was interrupted by a shake in the foundation of the building, along with a howl of pain originating from somewhere above them. Zero and Axl both looked at each other with the same emotion. Alia looked up at the ceiling and gave her solemn input;

"He can't help us until we save him."

. . .

X was flung across the room and hit the wall at full force. Pain shot up through X's circuits as the blue Reploid gave a scream in pain.

"Potential!" Sigma hollered as he advanced toward X like an angry bear, "Dr Cain said you had potential! Where is it?! Where is this potential everyone speaks so highly of?"

X said nothing as Sigma picked him up in a choke hold.

"Why does everyone think that you are the higher Reploid?" Sigma demanded. "Why?! You've had sex with a human, you choose not to destroy your enemies on sight, and you are willingly losing the fight right now! Why!? Why! Is! It! Always! You?!"

X refused to say anything as Sigma held him higher off the ground. A plasma blast from a handgun became the force that made Sigma drop X is surprise. Sigma turned to see where the blast had come from with a growl.

Having left Alia on the other side of the door, Zero and Axl now stood at the doorway as Axl blew off the top of his plasma gun. Seeing them made Sigma furious.

"You see?!" Sigma raged as he lunged at X, "You can't even fight a battle without someone helping you!"

"Friendship is power." Axl joked. "I thought that was Heroics 101. No, no, no! It's Irony 101- that sounds about right, yeah?"

"Do you think this is a game?" Sigma screamed with full fury.

"Someone has to." Axl said with a passing shrug. Sigma started to shake with anger. Zero calmly pulled out his Z-saber and looked over at Axl, who knew how well he was pissing off Sigma.

If it was a battle Sigma wanted, Zero figured, it was a battle Sigma was going to get.


	31. Roru no Namida

Pain.

It was the first conscious thought through Sephira's mind as she woke in the holding cell. The pain was all too familiar for her, and without a second guess she knew what had happened while she was under Sigma's control- the idea made her more furious than how much pain she felt through her body as she tried to move.

"Fuck you!" Sephira screamed in pain as tears started to crawl down her face like worthless reminders. "Fuck...! Fuck you Sigma..."

"I... I didn't mean for it to end like this. I really didn't mean to start it either."

Sephira looked up with pain, not realizing beforehand that she wasn't alone. At the end of the cot was a young woman with shoulder length blonde hair, dull blue eyes, and a pink female Navigator uniform.

"Roll?" Sephira asked out of first instinct, but the young woman did not respond to this. Instead, the young woman continued,

"I thought... I thought we would be able to finish it- but the war still rages about our heads without ceasing. And yet... children are still conceived and are born, men and woman die of natural causes, and some of us are still as nutty as a fruit cake." the young woman laughed uneasily at this, but then continued in the same hollow tone from earlier, "I didn't know about Zero until late and there is nothing I can do now to prevent whatever programming Wiley has planned for him- but X's software is completely my own although he was designed by Hikari. Alia is... far different than Zero or X. Unlike them, Alia was not made or meant for battle- she is our daughter. She can not carry on our legacy in the human way, but she is a testament of what we were able to accomplish... even if it means the end of mankind. I... I'm sorry Alia... X... Zero... Kalinka... Proto Man... M- Roch... I... I failed all of you..."

Sephira carefully tried to get up, giving a small, surprised yelp in pain in the process. The young woman looked at Sephira with cold, but rather sad eyes.

"My name is Alia, X and I share the same software." she told Sephira without tone in her voice. "Sigma hurt you, didn't he? It was because he wanted X, and hurting you was how he was able to hurt X... Sigma let his jealousy control him, but at what cost? He knows he is going to lose again, and again, and again..."

Sephira gave Alia a wary side glance.

"Who built you Alia?" Sephira asked.

"The same woman who changed X's initial programming: Roll."

"Roll...?"

"Mommy..." Alia said, her vacant eyes starting to glisten with tears. "I... I failed all of you..."

"Roll didn't fai-" Sephira started to say, but was cut short by a quick moment of pain that shot through her body like a bullet. Alia looked at her dully as the twenty-something started to mutter a cluster of choice words that did not ease her pain any.

"You are experiencing vaginal bleeding," Alia observed, "But it is not menstrual blood, nor does it indicate a sexually transmitted disease. Sigma... he... he really did hurt you..."

Sephira closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. It made sense, really- but Sephira wasn't sure how Alia was able to tell unless she was bleeding through her clothes. Which, again, would have made sense. At this point though, the only thing Sephira really cared about was finding a way to stop the hell sent pain that shot through her body at sharp and unexpected intervals.

Carefully, Alia started to get up, stood next to Sephira's side, put her hand on Sephira's abdomen and firmly pressed. Sephira winched, but it did dull the pain- if only by a small fraction. In the back of her mind, Sephira wondered if Alia's hand could warm up to function like a hot water bottle that helped to dull the pain.

"Go to sleep." Alia instructed softly. "We'll find you new clothes when you wake up again."

Sehira looked at Alia, wanting so badly to retort but found she did not have the strength. With a grumble, Sephira did do as she was told with some difficulty and was asleep in five minutes. Alia gently used her other hand to stroke Sephira's head- surprised for a moment that she could reach that far.

"You are a lot like her -maybe just a little broken- but the spirit is there." Alia said wistfully with a small side smile.

. . .

_You do not know what it's like to be dead. Dead inside, dead to life, dead to all the good things that come your way in midst of a storm. It makes you forget- it makes you want to forget. But you know you never can, and it makes every moment even more unbearable..._

"_This will pass my dear, just relax and we can-"_

"_No, I won't! My body was taken from me, I took a life away from a creature that wasn't even born yet! I can't do anything useful, I can't save anyone, I don't even know who I am! I... I...!"_

_Days have faded together, and everyone's face just seemed the same. Why go on is a world when you have nothing to fight for? Why go on when all you do is either murder an innocent, or murder yourself to protect the innocent?_

"_My name is Dr Barlet Weil, I understand you needed a job Miss Sephira? I know that an impromptu job interview is the last thing someone wants to do at a funeral, but you may enjoy what I am working on."_

_Not all of these are my memories... she wants hers to bleed into mine- to show how much we are alike. But she too, like everyone else, is violating my rights as an individual.  
>"I don't need all of this. I don't care what the robots think of me. I want my friend back, and the moment this cast comes off I'm leaving Koshima and never coming back."<em>

"_I _am_ your friend, aren't I? And in case you haven't forgotten, I'm a robot too. Don't you care about what _I_ think about you?"_

_Whatever it means to be an individual anymore..._


	32. Still Alive

Sephira woke up to see Alia staring at her.

"Hello." the woman said carefully.

"Do you feel better?" Alia asked curiously.

"Yeah." Sephira said immediately as she tried to sit up- but a sharp pain in her abdomen made her lay back down again with a wince. "Maybe..."

Alia looked Sephira over, then lent out her hand.

"It's time to walk it off," Alia told her calmly, "I'll help you if you take my hand."

Warily, Sephira looked at Alia's hand, then at the Reploid's face. There was honesty in her eyes, and it took Sephira by surprise. Unsure of what else to do, Sephira took Alia's hand and carefully started to stand up. For once, cold flooring actually felt nice against her bare feet, and it served to be a great relief from laying on the cot for what seemed to be ages.

"There." Alia said with a small smile, but it soon vanished. "Sigma came in to see you."

"That bastard can't fuck me any more than what he already has." Sephira said in a flat tone. "What did he want?"

Alia let go of Sephira's hand and got something near the door of the holding cell.

"He came to gloat, he said he didn't need me anymore because Gate was gone, and he wanted you to have this."

Sephira looked at what Alia held in her hands as the Reploid handed it to her.

"No way..." the human woman said in a voice peppered with anger. Sigma had given Sephira a two piece outfit consisting of a white sports bra-like bikini top and matching boy shorts. Seeing it nearly made Sephira boil over with rage- her vision swam with red and black as she could no longer feel the world around her.

"That Reploid is going to die, and I'll make sure he stays that way!"

"I... when I saw what Sigma wanted you to wear... I... I also got you this..." Alia then said, pulling something out from under the cot. Seeing what Alia pulled out cooled Sephira's head, but it had no effect on her overall mood. As with the two piece outfit, Alia had found a white trench coat that could have easily covered Sephira's figure down to her knees. It wasn't much, but it was certainly more modest.

"Wait..." Sephira slowly said as her head cleared from her justified rage, "Sigma made you leave but you came back to give me this... Do you have the...?"

Alia looked at Sephira and held up a key.

"Once you get dressed, I'm going to help you get out of here so we can find the guys."

Sephira looked at Alia with an odd smirk.

"Sounds like a challenge." Sephira said. "As long as we get to kick the shit out of Sigma; count me in."

. . .

Zero was the first to wake at Maverick Hunter HQ's recovery room. Almost immediately, he found that he could not move a single one of his limbs- he couldn't even turn his head to look at his surroundings better. The resulting rational panic from this idea sent off a silent alarm to the nurses in charge of the recovery room, and two came directly to Zero's side.

"Hello doll," one of them said to Zero, "My name is Pallette, my assistant Nana and I will be your caregivers for the time being."

"N-Nana...?" Axl asked drowsily as he started to wake. "Not... not Alia's Nana... is it...?"

"Axl?" Nana asked, turning to look at the young Reploid. "Gate didn't harm you?!"

"How can you look at my darling face and say such a thing?"

"My _god_, did that little knife do _that_?"

"Shocking, isn't it?"

Still immobile, Zero started to feel a bit annoyed.

"Excuse me," Zero said, layering the snark at full blast, "But can someone explain why I can't move my limbs right now? Or, a better question than that, did you recover two ladies from Sigma's fortress- one of which being a human and the other a Reploid that can _not_ be replaced."

"Well," Pallette started to say, "The damage you three received was beyond critical- you're actually quite lucky that we were able to get you back together. However, as a _really_ minor setback, we had to paralyze your limbs while we are able to completely restore you. The repairs are almost done now, since you're awake and all, and you'll be able to go about your business again."

"What about the human?" X asked as he became aware of the situation as well.

"And the irreplaceable Reploid." Zero added darkly, giving the sense of wanting to turn his head to look at X and give him a rather nasty glare.

"We rescued who and what we could." Pallette said.

"Alia was not one of them." Nana added. "Gate, however, was."

"Then we need to go back- even if we get our asses handed to us by Sigma." Axl said. "The girls will need us- Alia isn't built for combat, she can't even hold a gun straight enough to shoot."

"Everything Sephira knows about self-defense is aimed toward human males, not Reploids with specs as high as Sigma's." X agreed.

"Those ladies are going to die if someone doesn't help them." Zero then said.  
>"Well it's not going to be you three for another five hours." Pallette told them. "Do you have enough faith in your ladies in waiting to hold up until you get there?"<p>

The silence that followed illustrated their ideas rather clearly.


	33. Nice or Not

"Alia, slow up. I can't run very well at the moment."

"Sorry... I'm a little nervous."

"Justified. But I'm as good as crippled at the moment and I don't feel very good overall any way. So the least you can do is slow down a bit and take into consideration that you're not the only irreplaceable being here at the moment."

"Are you always this cold to Reploids who are trying to help you?"

"Well gee, if I met more Reploids that weren't out to murder me or my faulty choices in life, I think I'd give you a more accurate answer."

"You had slept with X, and you're trusting me, that's an accurate enough answer as any."

Sephira could run, but doing so made her want to keel over and wish for death to happen a lot sooner. She also couldn't crouch very well without feeling awkward about it. In all due honestly, she was being a bitch- whether or not it was justified was up for debate. At least Alia had patience, but everyone has their limits, and Sephira was stepping on them.

If Sigma didn't pop up and kill them on the spot- they would have done the honors themselves.

. . .

Axl, Zero, and X waited on the teleportation pad as the Operator in charge put in the coordinates.

"They're trying to get you three as close in as they can." Nana told them as they waited. "Bring Alia and that human girl back safely."

"We'll do our best." Zero told her. "Thank you for your help."

Nana gave a comforting smile as the teleport pad started to light up to show it was ready to transport them.

"Brace yourselves for teleportation." the Operator told them. "Ready in three... two... one..."

In a flash of bright light, the three were gone in a blink of the eye back to Sigma's fortress.

. . .

Vile had been placed on lookout for the three streaks of light as they came down near the fortress. The next step was to go to the holding cells to let the girls out so Sigma could plant a trap for the heroic bastards. Imagine that, to Vile's surprise and amusement, that the door to the holding cell was already wide open and there was not a girl in sight. If it wasn't for a pair of pajamas on the floor, Vile would have assumed no one was in there to begin with. Vile snickered at the idea, but he nearly fell over in hysterics when he thought of something more amusing;

What the _hell_ was that human girl wearing when her pajamas were still in the cell?

. . .

"Damn it." Alia hissed after awhile.

"What?" Sephira asked as she lagged behind by several paces.

"I just realized that HQ was likely able to extract the guys after their battle with Sigma. They're not even in this damned building."

"Wait a minute, your HQ was able to get them but not us?"

"Sigma likely had us in a holding cell that interfered with their tracking sensors."

"Of all the technology we have today, and you're telling me that Maverick Hunter HQ isn't able to detect or unscramble a code that hides the location of a human _or_ Reploid that is among their ranks?!"

Alia did not answer and was silent. Although the Reploid girl did see some irony behind it. Sephira through her hands in the air.

"Forget it, I'm done. Screw this. If I don't die soon, I'm going to do it myself."

"That's all fine and well until X decides to go Shakespeare with you." Alia told the human woman bluntly. "Then the world would go to hell in a handbasket."

Sephira thought about it, then went silent. If you can't say anything nice...

. . .

As far as Sigma was concerned, everything was falling into place. This time no one would be able to run, and this time only one side was going to make it out alive. Sigma liked those odds as he prepared for battle.

The world was going to be his.


	34. Questions With No Answer

"We can't go out the main entrance," Alia said, pointing out the rather obvious, "But there is a back way we can try- and if we're lucky, we'll meet up with the guys there too."

"Good." Sephira decided. "This place is starting to grade on my nerves."

"No offense, but you've been grading on mine for an hour now."

"None taken."

Without another word, the girls moved on. Slowly, an idea started to erode in Alia's mind the more she was in Sephira's presence. It was something in Alia's code that told the female Reploid that she had to get along with the human woman- or at least try, since doing such a thing outright felt impossible at the moment with the human acting like a bitch.

"I don't get it." Alia accidentally speaking out loud.

"Get what?" Sephira asked, remaining rather bitter but curious.

"Mother..."Alia started to say, then shook her head and started again, "Roll... I hold all of her memories- I know what drove her to do many things, including getting stepped on by a figure she knew would manipulate her. But the one thing I don't understand or seem to find reason for is why she thinks you and her are similar. You are broken, and in some way I suppose Roll was too. But... I don't get it. Why? Why would she think that you two are so similar, when you are rather obviously not..."

Sephira shrugged with indifference.

"Maybe the Mother of Androids didn't know as much as she thought."

Alia froze suddenly at what Sephira had said.

"What did you just call her?" Alia asked, her eyes shifting into seeing something far off. Sephira just looked at her.

"Who?" she asked, unsure of what Alia was talking about.

"Roll... the Mother of Androids... how did you know that was what they called her?"

"Wasn't it obvious?"

Alia shook her head slowly.

"The only one that called her that was Proto Man, who knew who she was. The idea was integrated into every android and cyborg built by Hikari and Wiley unconsciously- but none ever called her by that name. History doesn't help much either; everything in this world was given by Hikari, or so they say."

"When the foundations were constructed by Roll." Sephira then said, slowly understanding what Alia was getting at. Alia then had an epiphany.

"My god..." she said slowly. "I... I get it now."

"Get what?" Sephira asked as a tinge of hurt in her lower abdomen.

"Roll was the Mother of us because she was the one that helped give new purpose after being discarded." Alia slowly started to say as her thoughts came out, "X is considered the father of Reploids because it was his blueprints and guidance that gave way to their invention. If you and X were... as far as conveniences go, you two would be considered married in certain circles. That would mean that you... you _are_ the Mother of Reploids."

Sephira looked at Alia like she was speaking cryptically again. Alia looked at Sephira with wide eyes that gave hint of being rather horrified.

"How... how could Roll...?"

Before Alia could finish her sentence, the ground started to shake and the two females braced themselves as wall near them started to crumble and fall. When the rubble cleared and the ladies could see what was once on the other side of the wall, they both stared.

. . .

Meanwhile, Zero, X, and Axl carefully made their way through Sigma's fortress. Working together, the trio blasted through minor enemies like nothing. But when there were no enemies in sight and when the air around them seemed silent- that was when they started to feel a loss of hope.

"How do we know they're even still here?" Axl asked when the silence of the empty halls rang uncomfortably in their ears. "We haven't seen them, or heard from them. How do we even know if..."

"Don't finish that sentence." Zero warned. Axl nodded, but the darker thoughts inside his artificial brain still rang in despair and fear.

"We're the heroes, right?" Axl then said. "What happens when we come to the point when we can't do anything? What happens when we become so stuck that we can no longer move on? What happens when the only option to keep moving on is to just give up?"

For awhile, no one said anything and the silence that followed was more horrible than the silences from before. Zero looked around the room until he noticed something particular on the wall.

"X," Zero started to say, "One the count of three, you and I are going to aim a charge shot at that wall."

"Why?" X and Axl both asked at the same time with the same confused look.

"You were complaining about not moving forward- just trust me on this."

With a rather small nod, X took stand next to Zero and together they aimed their busters at the wall in point blank range. Their combined powers made the wall fall from the blast, and when the rubble cleared, some rather happy reunions were made.


End file.
